


Forsaken

by Lilpurplebird



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Demonic Possession, Drama & Romance, End of the World, F/M, Far Future, Lime, Spiritual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2018-09-17 21:57:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 187,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9348260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilpurplebird/pseuds/Lilpurplebird
Summary: Being a Legendary isn't always a good thing--they realized that too late when the world came to an end. Despite their failure, Arceus mercifully gave them another chance, but at a cost: They had agreed in a previous life to become mortal again should they have failed to uphold their duties. Along with that, they are commanded to repopulate and replenish the earth. However, unbeknownst to them, there is a dark power lying in wait, targeting Mew and Mewtwo to do its dirty work...





	1. Solemn Hour

“ _Master, with anguish of spirit I bow in my grief today_

_The depths of my sad heart are troubled. Oh, waken and save, I pray!_

_Torrents of sin and of anguish Sweep o`er my sinking soul,_

_And I perish! I perish! dear Master. Oh, hasten and take control!”_

_\-- “Master, the Tempest is Raging”, verse two_

_*~*~*_

“WHAT! A world war?!”

Startled by Ho-oh's sudden outburst, Suicune bowed her head, her once-flowing mane drooped over her arched back and the dulled crest upon her forehead briefly glinted. “Y-Yes, sir. Sinnoh was bombed by Orre, and the other regions are getting ready to come defend it. It's more likely than not to be a... world war...” The legendary North Wind grew silent, stricken with sorrow and age before the Guardian's eyes. The ribbon tail refused to undulate about the legs, it instead lay trailing on the ground. Her delicate fur was suddenly noticed to be smudged with dust clinging to her in clumps. Black and blue surrounded her dull eyes, indicating her lack of sleep. She was pitiful, unworthy to stand before someone with whom she was once equally revered to.

Ho-oh nodded at his creation before craning his neck to the rust-colored sky. It was still daytime, past noon, but it was cloudy—rain was probable. He feared these rainstorms; pollution had infected the vapor, turning it into acid rain in many cases. Hesitant as he was to create his famous rainbows afterwards, he had been finding himself _unable_ to fabricate them. Once able to shine with the colors of the rainbow, his feathers were now worn and battered, so the phoenix could now only gleam at a perfect angle if the sun hit him just right. The crown atop of his head hung in sight, warped by gravity, and his fiery eyes were fizzling out. It was unclear whether age finally caught up to him, or if the stress was getting to be a huge burden. He figured it was the latter.

The world had become more sinful to the point the Legendaries didn't dare show their faces. They could feel the evil expanding, and feared it was going to reach them as well. This fear was what caused them to start wilting from their high positions. As pollution became thicker and more prominent, Celebi was struggling to keep plant-life prosperous, resorting to using his life-source to do so. The last time Ho-oh saw him, he was beginning to turn a color of rot. Jirachi, many years back, had eventually broken free of his sleeping spells and began to use stored energy from the Millennium Comet as his powers. However, because he never knew of the real world, of its greedy, power-hungry lusts, it became a gut-wrenching experience for him. His cheerful face transitioned to a blank mask within months of the realization, and then he went into hiding where his wishing powers depleted over time. Darkrai, though he lived off nightmares, was struggling with demons from the people he tried to haunt. It grew difficult for him to find true fear to feed, and he fled to isolate himself away from civilization. Even Giratina had to get away from the world, and would only come out of his dimension if the Legendaries really needed him.

However, though they all were afflicted by the ever-increasing evil, Mew was hit the hardest. As the world grew more wicked, she became ill, unable to properly do her duties as guardian of the Tree of Beginning, and couldn't keep her home, the Amazon, from being further destroyed. Her powers started to weaken, and her optimistic nature slowly diminished. There were days she became unwilling to eat, and already tiny as she is, Mew lost weight. A few times she had mentioned she was developing suicidal thoughts from the stress she was receiving, but thankfully never acted upon it when her friends came to check up on her daily. Even so, when he last saw her months ago, she didn't look herself. Her sapphire eyes used to sparkle day and night from her pure soul, but now she had shown her experience at last, and her innocent spirit had been broken. The poor thing was all that was left of the sweet creature he once knew.

Ho-oh came to the conclusion years ago the world was destroying not just itself, but its guardians as well. Cause and effect proved everything that happened to the inhabitants affected them, and vice versa. Carelessness on their end and rebellion from the past generations brought it into further fruition.

He let out a slow sigh, bowing his head and turning to the quivering beast before him. “I believe this calls for a conference,” he confirmed. “Gather the Legendaries you can find, while I search for my share. We will be meeting at Mirage Island to discuss the issue.”

Suicune snorted in agreement, snapping her head to the side. “Right away, sir,” she barked before she kicked off, disappearing swiftly over the horizon. The Sky Guardian spread out his wings moments later, and took off as well, heading for the clouds to conceal himself from human eyes.

*~*~*

It had been decades since many of the Legendaries last saw each other, and thus the gathering felt more like a memorial than a conference. Old friends worriedly examined each other, taking in the shell of what was once their glorified selves. Life-time rivals only stared pitifully one to another at what remained of their strength and boisterous powers. Siblings huddled together as though trying to hold themselves up higher for a little longer, leaning on each other for support or comfort. No one spoke nor sent telepathic messages across the field, instead they sat deathly silent in their assigned places as they waited for the meeting to begin.

Ho-oh stood at the forest's outer edge, watching the skies and the surrounding land. There were a few still unaccounted for, but they were coming. Even without being told details of its urgency, none of them would dare ditch a gathering important as this. Had it been a casual assembly, he would not have bothered taking the time to usher them into the clearing, and there would be plenty of empty seats sticking out from the crowd.

A small pinpoint of light caught his eye, and the phoenix glanced over to see the three shapes of the Lake Trio taking form. They were holding hands, Mesprit in the middle with her brothers on either side. None of them were elegant in their movements like he usually saw them, their twin tails hanging limply from their bodies and the gems only giving meek glimmers from their depths. Both of them looked upon Ho-oh rather somberly (though Uxie had his head down as though deep in thought or silent prayer), bags visible under their golden optics.

He gave a respectful nod. “Azelf. Mesprit. Uxie,” he greeted them individually.

“Ho-oh,” they said in unison, voices tired and grim.

“How are the lakes?”

Each took turns looking at one to another, and the eldest, Azelf, replied meekly, “To be honest, we don't know. We haven't left each other's company for quite some time.”

“Fifteen years and seven months,” Uxie muttered, head still dropped. One of his tails weakly flicked.

The phoenix frowned, but remained silent as he gestured to the clearing with a wing. The Lake Trio each bowed their heads and flew for their seats, still hand-in-hand. The moment they disappeared from view, he felt a familiar presence beside him. Without craning for a glimpse, he quietly responded, “So. You decided to show up after all.” A quick pause, and he added, “Was Mew easy to coax into coming?”

“ _That is not my place to explain,_ ” was the solemn answer, the voice rich and strong like how Ho-oh remembered it.

Finally turning his head, the bird acknowledged the beings at his side. He had not seen the feline in years, but nothing was really out of the ordinary in his appearance. Mewtwo still stood proud in place, tail curled behind him in tranquility. His bony arms remained at his sides, hands clenched in loose fists. The color was still visible even in the face, showing he was taking care of himself. Briefly meeting his gaze, Ho-oh wasn't surprised his eyes were hard and vibrant with knowledge as ever, though the stare was calm with decades of peace he had managed to find.

Levitating close-by was his counterpart, tiny in contrast to her clone. She refused to look up at either of the two, preferring to keep her eyes on the ground. She had no shame, but her broken spirit caused her to retreat into her mind, forcing her to blank out and barricade herself from the world. By the looks of how attenuated she became and the wavering of her levitation, Mew still wasn't eating; how long ago she last ate, he couldn't tell. From what he knew about her physique and metabolism, she should be unable to hold herself up.

As though he had read his mind, Mewtwo serenely expressed, “ _When I went to fetch her, she had grown too weak to transport herself. She was lying in the Tree, awaiting death I assume._ ”

A faint, rather protesting whimper came from the mentioned Legendary at the comment, though they could see in her pale eyes she wasn't subconsciously present. It was believed among the Legendaries that when Mew withdrew into her mind, she tuned out her surroundings. There was a chance she didn't hear a word.

Giving a slow, rather cross sigh, Ho-oh tilted his head to the trees. “Since you're here, we can get started.”

With a slow nod, the bipedal feline crossed into the thick wood, telepathically tugging Mew behind him. The once-grand phoenix deplorably watched the small cat bob in place, taking note of her limp tail skimming the grass as he followed the pair. It was a straight, short path to the clearing, into the dim sunlight and amidst the eyes of the Legends. Many of their gazes were on the frail Mew, saddened and fearful. A few were amazed at how she still managed to make it to the conference in such a state. Others pointed at Mewtwo in the meantime, noticing his own health with hint of suspicion. It was silent except for the quiet sobs of Latias, crimson and pearl down worn almost to uselessness, and amber eyes lacking the light of her carefree soul.

Mewtwo disregarded their stares as he led the tiny Legendary along, pausing at the smooth, even stones that were their proper seats, and propped her down. He continued to mentally hold her in place even after he sat down, but allowed her to slack slightly. She never bothered to take heed if at all, eyes distant and glazed over. Her surrounding peers took a long, worrying look before turning to the larger rock in the middle. It was Ho-oh's self-proclaimed seat, though as time went by he had allowed others to take his place when it came to announcements, attendance, or temporary leadership if he was unable to make it (which was rare in itself). Today, he allowed the counsel be led by Shaymin and instead filled her seat at the other end.

The little terrier was already in her place, choosing to take on her Sky Forme, as her Land Forme was too squeaky and quiet. Having once stood tall and proud, Shaymin's petal scarf had wilted into an unhealthy brown, the edges frayed. Her fur was matted and dusty, with her ears drooping past her chin. Ho-oh heard a quiet buzz through the attendees, but chose to ignore them as he nodded to her.

Casting her eyes about mournfully at what remained of the mighty Legendaries, she began in a hard voice: “Brethren and sisters, we have been called together because the unthinkable has happened. It's been rumored, if not yet declared, that we are to be in a world war. This morning, at approximately oh-five hundred hours, the beloved region of Sinnoh had been mercilessly bombed by Orre.” A few gasped murmurs from those who hadn't heard the terrible news livened in small groups. Others bowed their heads in silent respect. Shaymin continued, “The damage done is monstrous and heart-breaking. It is believed thousands, perhaps millions of humans and Pokémon have lost their lives in this attack. Thanks to a scoping of the area by Rayquaza and Giratina, we have assembled the damage reports.”

The gathering held their breaths as Shaymin closed her eyes in thought. She gave the account slowly and solemnly. “Judging by radiation percentage collected, the first of Orre's aircrafts flew over the south-western portion of Sinnoh. There were no major cities in that area, but they dropped one of their bombs either intentionally or through some freak accident. Believed to be the largest of the bombs, it landed on Twinleaf Town, destroying the entire community and its surrounding areas as follows: Sandgem Town; Jubilife City; a portion of Canalave City at the south-east section; Lake Verity.”

At the mention of the last location, Mesprit hung her head, covering her face with a hand. Her brothers each put a comforting arm around her shaking shoulders. A few others who knew of her home in the lake glanced over at the shivering fairy in empathy. Shaymin stole such a gaze in her direction before resuming. “The next two bombs were dropped around the same time, estimated at about five minutes after the first destruction. One landed into the heart of Eterna City, the other just at the outskirts of Hearthome City. The shock waves expanded to Mount Coronet where it has suffered major rock slides, cutting its elevation to half what it used to be. The Distortion World has some damage done to it, though thankfully Giratina wasn't harmed.”

The said Legendary scoffed, the battered scarlet-spiked wings folding behind him. “Those bastards will pay for what they did,” he grumbled, voice echoing hauntingly into the distance, crimson eyes glaring in the hazy sunlight. “It's virtually impossible to make it irreversible.”

“And we're awfully sorry for what has happened,” the Gratitude Legendary acknowledged, bowing her head slightly.

“Damn right you are,” he snorted. “I haven't had anything happen there for centuries, not since Team Galactic dispersed and disappeared off the face of the earth. Serves them right for messing around with me. Bastards had it coming...” Heatran, who happened to be seated closest to Giratina, scooted a little ways toward Palkia, who in turn shot a skeptical but wary look toward the dragon. Others shuddered from the menacing airy tone, not wanting to hear any further details.

Shaymin cleared her throat. “The last bomb detonated between Sunyshore City and the Sinnoh Pokémon League, completely destroying the Victory Road and the two landmarks. The Elite Four, the Champion, and anyone else there at the time were killed when the building crushed them when it fell. It's been noted that this is one of the reasons why Sinnoh is gearing towards war.”

“ _Wha-ah-oh, wait-wait-wait, hold the phone,_ ” Deoxys sputtered out, waving his hands around for attention. “ _You're saying the whole world is going to war just because some important figureheads of Sinnoh, or more precisely the 'Elite Four', were killed as a result of the bombings?_ ”

“You can say that, Deoxys, even though I said it's _Sinnoh's_ reason.”

He dryly laughed for a few seconds, shaking his head. “ _Wow. I mean, just..._ _ **wow**_ _. This is ridiculous._ ” Another laugh, forcing him to barrel forward and slap a palm on his knee. “ _These—these humans and their political agendas! They would rather go to war over four people than a whole nation?_ ”

“Deoxys, people _and_ Pokémon died because of this!” Cresselia blurted out, feeling ready to go into hysterics. The crescents on her back gave a weak glimmer in the light as she leaned past a startled Darkrai for a better look. “This is why they're going to war! It's a catastrophe!”

“ _Oh, come on! If we were to be bombed right now and only a few of us died, would the world go into a world war just because of that?_ ”

“Oh, most definitely! We're important! So why not?”

“ _Black market importance,_ ” the alien smugly remarked, more to himself than out loud.

The moon swan took offense, gritting her teeth and shooting back, “Well, what makes _you_ special, then? You haven't done your so-called duties since you came here!”

“ _Says the broad who hasn't left her island in decades._ ”

“That's different!”

“You know, Cresselia, he does have a point,” Darkrai mentioned sheepishly, pushing her back for room and to end the increasing argument.

She bucked him away. “You stay out of this!”

“ _Oy, let the phantom speak,_ ” Deoxys came to his defense. “ _What makes you think you can silence him?_ ”

“This is between you and me! Don't you dare bring Darkrai into this! Now answer my question! Why are _you_ special?!”

“ _Same reason you are, toots,_ ” he cheekily said.

“WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!”

Shaymin immediately piped up, standing straight and preparing herself to launch forward. “Cresselia, Deoxys, please! Can't this wait until after the meeting? We still have important business to discuss!”

“And part of that business is to assign this space freak a different position!”

There was a small chorus of “ooh”s from a few males who took interest in the quarreling. Rayquaza thumped the ground in appeal with his tail, giving off a roar of encouragement. Even though he and Deoxys made up their dislike for each other centuries ago, the two still carried a rivalry that would temporarily flare up over carping ridicules or gestures deemed offensive. One would swear they were itching for a fight, whether with each other or not. Cresselia was doing his dirty work for him picking a fight with Deoxys.

The reproached Legendary glared icily at the female, one of his arms morphing into his dual-colored flagellates. “ _You dare say that again, Cress?_ ” he darkly challenged.

Craning her neck, she replied smoothly, “I'd say more, but I am a lady.”

“ _Don't give me that bullshit of an excuse. What are you, Victorian?_ ”

“And what are _you?_ Final Frontier?”

“You two, enough!” Shaymin shouted, spreading her large ears to levitate. “This nonsense has gone too far!”

“ _You have a lot of nerve challenging me,_ ” Deoxys continued, ignoring the increasing hoots and warnings to continue the transformation into his Attack Mode. His arms finished their formation into whips just as his body structure slimmed, his head beginning to protrude horns.

“'Woman hath fury' mean anything to you?” she spat, eyes glowing a pale pink.

In an effort to try lessening the tension, though more out of an impulse, Darkrai seized one of the swan's thin wings and yanked her to the ground, holding her there with a clawed hand. She gave a shout of surprise, struggling under his grip to break free and lunge for the alien. Her psychic energy she emitted in her anger was repelled by his Dark-type aura, even countering it so she zapped herself.

“RELEASE ME, DARKRAI!” she screamed out a demand as her eyes blazed a hot pink. “LET ME RIP THAT ALIEN SCUM TO BITS!”

“Cresselia, what has gotten into you?” he asked through his astonishment as he pushed her back down. “Why are you letting him get to you like this?”

“DARKRAI, I MEAN IT! LET ME TAKE ON THAT SON OF A BI—” Cresselia's voice abruptly gave way, leaving her to gape dumbly up at her phantom friend, eyes dimming to their normal state. Deoxys stared down at her in confusion over her sudden silence. The crowd's buzz of excitement died down to crane in for a look. Shaymin was flabbergasted, descending back onto her rock and letting her ears drop. No one dared speak out for a few moments in fear it would trigger her anger and cause her to lash out again. It was only when she murmured an “Oh, my” did the first Legendary risk letting out a breath he held. She spoke once more. “Oh, my... I almost... what in the world did I...? I took it too far?”

“False alarm,” Lugia sighed in relief, sitting back in place. He shook his head slowly, raising a wing to pinch his brows. “Dear Arceus, what has gotten into me? Cheering on for a fight...”

Darkrai backed away to allow Cresselia to rise, avoiding her gaze by hanging his head and crossing his arms. When she looked at Deoxys, he had already commutated to his normal form, returning to his seat without another word. Frowning, the swan sadly glanced around at her peers, apologetic in her movements as she took her place next to her counterpart.

Shooting the terrier a look, Ho-oh waited for the Legendaries to recede from their stirred state before rising. He calmly walked to the middle, pausing at the front of the rock and facing the others. The uncomfortable silence hung in the atmosphere, all eyes on the phoenix before them. Lifting his head to stand as boldly as possible, he fanned a wing in the disturbed female's direction.

“What we have witnessed here, brethren and sisters, is a sign of the world's impact on our part,” he announced. “One of our most gentle members has begun to release the beast that threatens to consume us all. The world's demons are upon us, but it's up to the individual to allow them to possess or to continue battling until the end. It's fortunate on Cresselia's part that she is surrounded by friends at this time, but what if no one was around her? What then?

“Legendaries, this is a dangerous time to be cocky. We cannot afford to fight with one another. Your idiotic rivalries have to end now like they should have centuries ago.” He noticed Groudon and Kyogre side-glancing at each other from where they stood (or in the whale's case, half-submerged in the lake that rested off a ways). “As of today, no one is allowed to return home without being accompanied, if you haven't been already. Siblings shall share the same resting place. Friends shall be neighbors. Rivals shall be friends. Make up your differences and find other ways to get along. While the whole world may be going to war, we must not be part of that war. As protectors of this world, we must be the example.” With a curt nod, Ho-oh briskly walked back to his seat, giving Shaymin back the floor.

She backed up his command by exclaiming, “Hear, hear! All those in favor say 'aye'!”

Taken aback by the phoenix's short speech, none of the Legendaries could find their voice to ratify. They instead raised a hand or showed signs of approval by a simple special attack released into the sky. Even though all was accounted for, Shaymin still asked, “Are there any opposed?” When none came, she nodded and said, “May Arceus have mercy on us all.”

There came a cry of “Amen!” from the middle, recognized as Jirachi's energetic tone. A few of his surrounding peers gaped at his random reaction, knowing he hadn't spoken a word in years, though Latias cried out happily and gave him a hug (he was quickly rescued by Latios).

The terrier smiled. “Amen indeed. Since I trust each one of us knows who to pair up with _without_ any arguing, we'll go to our next topic of interest. I have been receiving reports of unusual weather abnormalities across the globe, mainly in the seas. There have been more casualties at sea in the past few decades than the entire century. Kyogre, Lugia, you two are more capable of causing these storms than anyone else. Do you two have any explanation as to why this is occurring?”

“No, ma'am,” Kyogre called out after raising his head from the water, a tired Manaphy resting on top. “I haven't left the ocean trenches in years.” The Seafaring Legendary shook his head in agreement.

“Yeah, same here. I've really just come out of the water for the meeting,” the water dragon admitted, shrugging. “And besides, even if we were responsible for this, it wouldn't be _this_ dangerous, or widespread for that matter.”

Shaymin chewed on her bottom lip, scrunching her face in a thoughtful expression. “Strange. You two aren't the type to go around drowning people or creating these powerful storms just for the heck of it, after all. Well, could this be the same reason we're also having frequent powerful earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in one region after another? Groudon? Entei? Heatran? You three have similar explanations?”

All three nodded and shrugged. Heatran was the one who spoke up about it. “Honestly, Shaymin, I don't think any one of us Legendaries have any control over these natural disasters.”

“Besides,” Entei piped up, “Suicune here can tell you the time I got sick and couldn't roar properly for the life of me even though a few volcanoes have erupted during that season.”

She groaned, putting a paw on her snout in embarrassment. “Arceus, Entei, not _that_ story again,” she huffed.

Raikou snickered beside her. “Com'mon, sis! You tell it better than I do, and it's funny when you say it, only because you were stuck with him the whole season.”

“Don't push it.”

“Well, let us first finish the meeting,” Shaymin suggested quickly. “And Heatran, you are making a good point there. We all, more or less, deal with our surrounding environments with that elemental power, but I can truthfully say we don't always command that power. Ever since the world breathed life, these things have always happened, with or without us. But everyone's growing concerned about this and are wanting some answers. I'm not saying they're all pointing fingers at us, but since their belief is that we are the ones that can command similar destruction, they may think we have something to do with this. In my opinion, I think the world's tilting slightly more on its axis due to gravitational pull by the sun, but that's debatable.” She cast her eyes about in the crowd waiting for any loose comments before continuing on. “All right, Celebi? What's the report about the earth's vegetation? Have any more forests disappeared?”

The addressed Legendary lifted himself into the air, bowing in place. Ho-oh and others took notice of his pale-brown skin, his antennae and the extension of his head wilting. “They are still flourishing and blooming healthily. However, Ilex Forest is scheduled to be uprooted for development.”

Gasps and murmurs hummed for a few minutes before the lead speaker said her part. “Since when? I thought Azalea Town was against this?”

Celebi sadly dropped his eyes. “They reportedly signed the contract last Saturday when the last protector died. His son—that city _bastard_ —immediately called the developers and had a meeting that very day to sign the papers. No one has come forward to defend the forest, if any of them care. The bulldozers will start mowing through sometime this month before the foundation can be built.” Without another word, he sat down, clenching his fists in silence.

“Thank you, Celebi. Our hearts go out to you and the inhabitants.” She bowed her head in a moment of silence before lifting her gaze to her right. “Well,” she sighed, “as this is a concern among the majority of us, we would like to hear the progress on Mew. How is she doing?”

Everyone's eyes and heads moved for the direction of the feline in question. Mewtwo shifted under the gazes of the Legendaries, not that they were concentrating on him, but more from the fact he had to answer Shaymin's question. He brought himself to stand up, locking eyes with her. “ _As_ y _ou may have noticed, or not,_ ” he referred to the audience, “ _Mew is incapable of independently sitting upright. For those who are unable to tell the difference, allow me to demonstrate._ ”

His mind immediately released its telepathic hold on her. From beside him, a small “thump” sounded seconds afterward along with light, horrified gasps when Mew dropped forward to the grass below. “OH, DEAR ARCEUS, SHE'S DEAD!” was the scream of Latias, who left her seat to the aid of her friend. Latios immediately followed, grabbing his sister before she reached the fallen Legendary.

“ _Leave her be,_ ” Mewtwo cautioned, turning his head to meet the frightened wide-eyed stare of the small female. She backed away into her brother, covering her mouth to quiet her sobs as her eyes fell on the motionless body of her friend. Mew laid there with no recognition of her fall, the only sign of life being her slow breathing. His vision returning to an awed Shaymin, he psychically raised his counterpart back to her seat, the scene making it seem like she was a limp doll being placed on a shelf, her head still hung and slacking. “ _She has been unresponsive for quite some time,_ ” he stated, ignoring their terrified stares. “ _It is as if she has lost her will to live. I found her like this slowly withering away in the heart of the Tree of Beginning. She has withdrawn enough to not take heed of her surroundings. I doubt Mew knows about us, let alone her location._ ”

“Is she eating?” came the next concern.

“ _It is apparent she has not had proper nutrients in some time. My estimate is two months._ ”

“It could be longer than that,” Ho-oh pointed out. “I last saw her about five months ago. She didn't eat then.”

“She wouldn't eat when I checked up on her _several_ months ago,” Celebi countered, folding his arms. “Anyone else visit her around that time?”

Latias slowly raised a shaky hand. “I-I, uh... saw her... It was her birthday... she had nothing.”

Mewtwo shook his head, growing skeptical. “ _This is improbable. Even as a Legendary, she should not be alive unless her metabolism is lower than that of a Slakoth's._ ”

“That's not the case, right?” Shaymin asked.

“ _Correct._ ”

There fell an eerie silence in the clearing as the Legendaries continued to stare unblinkingly at Mew. Each of them recited a prayer in their hearts, growing teary-eyed as the reality of their fallen comrade became more prominent. They began to see more clearly the bone structure against the unkempt fur, at how lifeless her tail appeared. None of them wished to see what her eyes truly looked like, wanting to keep the memory of them and the reputation of Mew pure. Latias found her way back to her seat by Latios, grasping his hand tightly and averting her gaze to the grass.

Sighing, the Sky Warrior nodded toward the clone. “Thank you, Mewtwo.” After he sat back down, she added, “Are there any other concerns or reports we should know about before we adjourn?”

There was another silent moment before Rayquaza cleared his throat in the back. “Um... do I _really_ have to go back to the ozone layer?” he wondered, fiddling his claws. “I'm not too sure how many of you know this, but there's too much crap up there, and it hasn't been thinning out. As much as I like the view of the earth and space and all that, I can't stand seeing this hunk of tin cross my vision or bump into me every few minutes. I may have been taking out my anger on them and trying to clear my home out, but either they just keep sending more or it's only getting worse.”

“ _Or it could be just you,_ ” Deoxys muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. Darkrai instinctively grasped onto Cresselia in the chance she would snap again. She just gave him a concerned look and gently pulled away.

Shaymin wasn't aware of it. “We figured you were the cause of all the satellites burning through the atmosphere, but we can honestly say we had no clue you were very uncomfortable up there. You should've said something earlier.”

“Well, gee, I never get around to it,” he grumbled. “It's really only once in a blue moon or two that I come down here anyway. Dorkxys is really the only one I ever talk to, I figured he would've told someone by now.” The addressed Legendary turned to glare at the use of his insulting nickname, but Rayquaza either ignored it or was unmindful at the moment.

“Well, you're welcome to return to Sky Tower at any time,” the terrier said, gesturing in the direction the building was located. “It hasn't been visited or destroyed by a human in centuries. It's still high up enough you won't be spotted, but low enough it's comfortable living. Unless you prefer another place?”

“Sky Tower will be all right. I miss that hunk of junk anyway.”

She smiled. “Perfect. Anything else?” She waited for an outburst of any kind before her ears straightened out. “All right, then. The meeting will be adjourned indefinitely. If something comes up, Ho-oh or I will call for another conference. In the meantime, brethren and sisters, let's keep our thoughts and prayers on the future of the world. May Arceus redeem us from our solemn hour.” She gave a bow, a gesture the others returned out of respect. “Dismissed.”

“No one leaves without a partner!” Ho-oh called out, waving a wing before the first Legendary stood up. “If there's one short, Shaymin and I will take on that role.”

Slowly but surely, the guardians rose from their seats and asked a close friend or even the one next to them if they could follow them home. Those who were asked gave the blessed permission, though most secretly wished someone else came up to them instead. Jirachi, as much as he wanted to go with the Lake Trio, was asked by Latias (more like pleaded with anyway) to live with her and Latios. Not one to say no, he surrendered and allowed the female dragon to hug him ecstatically.

After watching the three leave, once the Wish Maker was again rescued, Entei suddenly turned to Suicune before she could rise. “Sis, I don't wanna go with Ho-oh. Can I come with you?”

She groaned, throwing her head back. “Oh, for heaven's sake, Entei.” A heaving sigh, and she gave in, “Fine. But I don't want this turning into another care-taker season, okay?”

“Oh, yeah, you have to tell everyone about the time when I was sick!” he blurted out a little too loudly, bouncing in place.

Suicune cringed when a few heads turned in her direction. Deoxys had grown interested. “ _What happened there?_ ” he smirked, folding his arms.

“Do I really have to?” she growled. “I've been trying to forget it ever happened.”

“Okay, okay, it goes like this!” Raikou butted in, grinning brightly much to her chagrin. “So, Entei caught this really bad cough that turned out to be pneumonia or laryngitis, we really don't know, so every time he talked or roared—tried to anyway—he'd croak. But after each croak, he'd squeak and spit fire in whatever direction he was facing. Well, Suicune here _loves_ hanging out in forests, and so she had caught the attention of many people all because of these little brushfires she had to douse out. But there was the one time Entei squeaked while they were at a lake she was purifying.”

By this time, a small crowd had gathered around, blocking off any escape Suicune had planned on making. She tried to hide her face in her mane, darkly murmuring to herself for the purpose of drowning out her brother's voice. He obliviously continued his gushing. “As it turns out, while Suicune is purifying water, there's this rather temporary flammable chemical secreted from her paws that is released into the water to help clean it. So when Entei spat fire at the lake, half the surface went up in flames!” He paused while a wave of whooping went through a majority of the spectators, grinning excitedly. “Oh, my Arceus, you wouldn't _believe_ how many burn patients had to be treated that day! Even the Nurse Joy there couldn't believe it when all these fish Pokémon were rushed into the emergency room by a small group of campers who just so happened to be there and saw the whole thing happen! She was all 'OMIGAWD' and, according to reports, actually _fainted_ at the amount of her many patients. They had to call in _another_ Nurse Joy to complete the task!”

The listeners roared at the imagery, a couple buckling over. Azelf, while a smile was on his face, was focused more on the muttering Suicune. “But wait, isn't this more embarrassing for Entei?” he pointed out. “I mean, _he_ caught the lake on fire.”

“But Suicune was the one cleaning it! What makes it funnier was that because the campers were too stupid to get a good look, the police classified it as arson. To this day, the 'culprits' have yet to be caught!”

Darkrai surprisingly gave Entei a slap on the back, laughing heartily. “ _You_ , sir, need to get sick more often. I'd do anything to see that happen. Hey,” and he snapped his fingers before pointing, “you think she still gets nightmares?”

“Entei, Raikou, we're going,” she barked in interference, glaring at the phantom and a still guffawing Deoxys. “I was supposed to be purifying a lake today upon Celebi's request. We'll be lucky to get there in time to at least clean half of the lake if the human children haven't arrived there yet.”

“ _Hey, I'm tagging along!_ ” the alien called out, reaching out a hand while bending in half to catch his breath. “ _A-Any chance of a cold today, Entei?_ ”

He shrugged. “Maybe.” He was whacked in the head by his sister before she disappeared in a blur. “Do'h, wait, Suicune! We don't know where the lake is!” Entei lifted an apologetic paw in farewell to the others before bumping Raikou's shoulder to urge him on. After the electric tiger nodded at the crowd, he and his brother followed suit, the bushes and tall grass rustling in passing.

Deoxys snapped his fingers in frustration. “ _Damn! Where's Celebi, I'll be needing that lake's location._ ”

The Time Travel Legendary rolled his eyes from where he levitated, shaking his head. “Whatever, Deoxys. It's really once in a blue moon that Entei gets sick. Besides, the closest to seeing lakes catch on fire is whenever Groudon sneezes. Once you've seen that, you've seen it all.”

With a pout, the disappointed extraterrestrial left, shooting off in Rayquaza's direction. Celebi chose to team up with the Lake Trio siblings, who accepted him into their group before they teleported away. Many others left with their own siblings, or went ahead to go with their rivals like Ho-oh had suggested. He and Shaymin remained on Mirage Island until only Mewtwo and Mew were left. The clone had remained in place to watch the others depart, waiting for someone to take Mew with them. Many of the Legendaries clearly wanted to bring her along, but they instead gave pitying looks, and a few shed silent tears. Inwardly, he groaned: he was stuck with her until the next meeting. The two may have gotten along over the years, even going as far as to say they were friends, but Mewtwo didn't want to have anything to do with her at this point in time.

Ho-oh, of course, wasn't going to let it pass. “Mewtwo, you know you're not allowed to be dismissed until you're paired up.”

“ _I am very aware of that,_ ” he said, a hint of a snappy tone in his voice.

The phoenix frowned. “You don't have to be with Mew if you aren't comfortable having her be a roommate, you might say.”

Mewtwo leered up at him. “ _I am not a child. Why are you speaking to me as such?_ ”

He spread out his wings as a shrug. “I'm just saying, Mewtwo, one of us can take care of her, but you'll have to leave with the other. This isn't a time to brood over differences. As we speak, the world's teetering on the decision of a world war, with us possibly being dragged into it. We cannot afford to continue fighting with one another if it means becoming like them.”

Shaymin stepped forward, laying a paw on Mew's knee. “I can take her,” she volunteered. “I have some herbs that can heal her. She'll be up within a few—”

“ _Then I will take her with me._ ” The clone sharply stood up before the two, locking eyes with the Sky Guardian before him. “ _I do not wish to be with either of you. Frankly, I prefer going alone. But if you insist, then I will give in to your demand just this one time. And_ _ **only**_ _this once._ ” His eyes illuminated glaringly to stress his seriousness, though his answer managed to please Ho-oh.

“All right, then,” he concluded, straightening up. “I trust she's in good hands?”

Mewtwo glanced down at his languished counterpart. It was a peculiar question, seeing as all these years, Mew was strong enough to be independent and not afraid to be alone. But after watching her fade into the barely conscious being she was now, it was apparent she became incapable of living by herself and still expected to live another night. Judging by her limp, bony features and shallow breathing, she was ready to drop dead at any given moment. The thought of healing herbs being administered to her in this feeble state was fatally sound. With nothing in her stomach for months (unless they weren't consumable, though most herbs were), the shock of medicine filling her up was more likely to kill her than heal.

Wrapping his tail around her to pull her closer, Mewtwo turned his attention back to the phoenix. “ _She will. I will make sure of it._ ”

Ho-oh bowed his head, making the feline blink. “Thank you, Mewtwo. This is an important task, I hope you realize.”

Still taken aback about the formal gesture, his response took a few seconds for Mewtwo to register and then answer. “ _Somewhat. I am familiar about her role in this world mainly through facts and legend._ ”

Ears spreading out, Shaymin herself bowed in place, kneeling at his feet. “Then do everything in your power to make sure she becomes well again. We're entrusting you with this great task.”

Shifting his weight, Mewtwo scooped up Mew with an arm. She peacefully laid inert against his chest, eyes closed. The three looked upon her as if she had passed into the next life, a fact that would have been true had she not taken an irregular, deep breath. To their relief, it wasn't her last.

Ho-oh averted his eyes from the fallen Legendary, casting them to the sky. “We still have time. Let us depart until needed.” He paused to let out a quiet sigh. “Please, Mewtwo, do your very best to bring Mew back. We cannot lose her, not at this present time.”

“ _I promise you it shall be done._ ”

When the great phoenix craned his neck to look back, Mewtwo had already departed where he stood, Mew gone with him. Shaymin backed up, eyes threatening to brim with tears, head bent in a silent prayer. Sighing once more, he raised his vision back to the heavens.

“May Arceus be with us all.”


	2. Sanctuary

“ _It's calling from within the heart_

_I always want to dream cheerful dreams_

_Sadness can never be counted but_

_I will be able to see you on the other side”_

_\-- “Itsumo Nando Demo” (translated), Kimura Yumi, Spirited Away _

*~*~*

It was the only other place he knew where Mew could heal in peace. The Tree, despite it being her home, had been growing chaotic at the present time with small disturbances. Mewtwo figured that during such an event, she had to give up some of her own power to return it to normal. And with her being weak enough as it is, one more power surge would surely kill her, and soon afterward the Tree and the world (at least according to legend). As a nomad, Mewtwo knew the best and the worst places on the planet. Unfortunately, with the world growing more unstable, some peaceful areas were within a volcanic range or known fault, or where any humans living close by were too dangerous to even lay eyes on. They had nowhere else to rest.

Mewtwo hadn't set foot in the cavern in centuries, not since he and the other clones had gone their separate ways, and when he permanently disappeared from the memories of his enemies. Since then, the underground lake of Mount Quena had flourished lavishly. Though the only sunlight available was from a hole in the high cavern ceiling, vegetation was very verdant and sweet-smelling. The Bug Pokémon living there were among the most healthy known in the Pokémon world. The larvae raised by the waters grew up into beautiful creatures, their strength and size abnormal for their species.

It was a risk Mewtwo chose to take when he abruptly and calmly teleported into the place he once called home. Pokémon around him jumped back in retaliation, a few rising in position to strike the intruder. He only remained in place, casting his eyes about the underground miracle. A familiar ambient aura was noticeable, but a heavy burden in the realization none of the Bug Pokémon were used to strangers smothered it. The closest one to him, a Scyther larger than he, brandished its razor-sharp weapons in a warning posture, scraping them together as it leered. The intimidation didn't bother the clone, who only took a glance at the forearms before slowly looking around his surroundings.

“Scy, scyther!” it cautioned, swiftly beating its wings to buzz angrily, bringing up a slight wind. By its demanding tone, it was possible it was the alpha of the swarm of Bugs. “Trespasser, leave immediately!”

Mewtwo only gave a solemn nod in its direction. “ _I come here only to seek shelter and peace,_ ” he explained, his voice of reason causing some of the Bugs to shrink back. “ _This was once my temporary home. I am the one responsible for transporting the lake underground. I am unsure how history works among you, nor do I know if ancestry is important to your species, but your ancestors knew me. This place was once disturbed by human activity. The courage that now runs in your veins was what motivated them to save their home. I merely moved the lake away from human discovery so it would flourish without interruption. It never occurred to me that centuries later their descendants would continue to live here and in such perfect health. But I am not here to reminisce,_ ” he admitted when the Scyther lowered its arms. “ _I came here so she can heal without disturbance and stress._ ”

A slight stir held against his chest caught the mantis' eye. When it stepped forward, the insects saw it safe to approach the newcomer and gingerly came forward for a peek of his companion. They beheld their most powerful Legendary weakened before them, unconscious and starved, her head almost hanging off the crook of Mewtwo's arm. It wasn't long before they began to give off sorrowful cries, bowing their heads. The Scyther blinked in disbelief before its hardened stare melted into a melancholy look at the sight. 

Mewtwo was curious, yet dismayed, about how the Pokémon were reacting to Mew's condition, figuring they were showing a sign of remorse or were praying. They made no actual words he could understand. Whatever it was, other surrounding insects were perking up at the commotion and crawling or flying over to investigate. Within a few feet of the feline, once they spotted Mew, they joined in. Soon, the whole cavern echoed with the chorus of mourning, and Mewtwo hoped that it couldn't be heard on the surface.

Spreading out its arms, Scyther caused that the Bugs back away for room, and then turned back to him. Deep in its eyes, hints of tears were beginning to form. Mewtwo couldn't help but stare back up until it broke the silence by crying out to its neighbors, “Our goddess is deathly ill! May Heaven spare her!”

Goddess? That was what Pokémon believed about Mew, as well as the other Legendaries? The concept was new for the clone, who only knew of the human interpretation of what the Legendaries were. Never before had he heard of the others boasting about being gods, or even mention the term. A respect for Arceus, possibly? If so, why would He make demigods if He was the only god, then? As interesting as the topic was, it was only making Mewtwo more puzzled about it. For all he knew, it was more based on opinion than them knowing the facts.

Shaking his head to clear the question from his mind, his attention returned to the gathering of Bugs surrounding him. They were still continuing their cries, but it was quieter since the Scyther made its announcement. It then bowed gracefully, addressing in a softer voice, “Our apologies, Mew's keeper. You are welcome to stay for our goddess' health.”

Pleased about the apologetic welcome, Mewtwo returned the respectful posture. “ _Thank you. I promise you we shall do our share of anything you may desire of us, and leave the moment she is well again._ ”

A curt nod, and the Scyther left without another word, signaling to the insect Pokémon they could go back to what they were doing previously. A few dismissed themselves to do so, but many more were concerned about Mew than their lifestyle. Mewtwo was slightly awed at how persistent they were in waiting for any sign of life from their beloved Legendary, but he didn't let it bother him. They were worried, he understood that. He was now beginning to think coming to Mount Quena was the best decision after all; the Pokémon at the Tree never bothered to check up on their guardian.

Casting his eyes about the familiar landscape, he noticed the abundance of trees that weren't there when he was last in the very spot he was in. One happened to be just a few steps behind him where hanging from the branches, ample Kakuna were staring at the back of his head the whole time. Was he more picky, he would've gone to find another tree or a more secluded area, though the seemingly-empty looks from the pupae were more focused on the rosy cat he was holding. Even during metamorphosis, they knew who she was. 

Walking up to the basswood, Mewtwo knelt to lay Mew up against the trunk, gently sitting her up so she was steady in her state. Not one budge he rocked her with stirred her from unconsciousness. The leaves' shadows blanketing her made the convincing appearance she had passed on, forcing him to reposition her into more light to prevent any controversy amongst the Bugs. In the meantime, most of the said Pokémon had scattered themselves to other trees and shrubs for food, bringing their findings to the pair. A modest variety was piled up by the bipedal cat, many being sweet-flavored berries such as Pecha and Magost. A few exotic fruits were added to the mix, among them the rare Enigma berry Mewtwo thought couldn't grow in high elevations, let alone underneath a mountain. He thanked those who took the time to look and even sacrifice some of their delicacies for them, mainly for Mew. She needed them more than he did.

One of the seekers, a young Ledian, paused in her search for a closer look. Gazing upon what was remaining of the Legendary, she frowned at the sight of her frail body. “Sir? Will she be all right?” was the worrisome question.

“ _I honestly cannot say at this present time,_ ” he replied, glancing down at his counterpart. “ _All I know for certain is that she should not even be alive._ ” 

Mew suddenly twitched. It was a vague movement, not one of great concern, but it was noticeable. Mewtwo only scowled. The spasm was as though she was trying to wake herself up from a terrible nightmare, yet it was too weak to be felt.

“ _Pitiful,_ ” he muttered to himself, slowly shaking his head. “ _This is what you have demoralized yourself into. You are regretting it a little too late._ ”

Picking up one of the numerous Magost berries, he held it at the tip of his fingers, glowering at the tough skin. There wasn't a chance Mew was capable of swallowing it whole, let alone properly eat it. She may have forgotten to chew after her many months of starvation, and her jaw muscles were more likely atrophied to even open her mouth if just slightly. Looking over to find the Ledian had left, he gave a slow, disapproving sigh at the realization there was no other choice. As revolting as it sounded, chewing for her was the only way to get it down her throat.

Mewtwo hesitated, gritting his teeth at the thought until he was sure his jaw would lock up. The more he fretted over the idea, the less it became appealing. Then the images of Ho-oh and Shaymin came to mind, and at how they offered to take the responsibility into their own hands (or wings). Whether it was offering healing herbs or whatever they could find, would they have done the same thing?

It seemed so. And of course, chewed-up berry was more nutritious to an empty belly than any crushed or chewed-up herb would be. That was really the one reason he took it upon himself to see to Mew's recovery. Shaymin may be a kind soul and a wonderful healer, but there were moments she wasn't very bright in her actions. Giving a very weak, empty Mew herbs before food would be disastrous, and she would never forgive herself. If he screwed it up, the punishment would be harsh, but he'd at least get over it. As friendly as Mew had been to him, there were days he wished she had just left him alone in peace. Possibly, then, his early torment of her would've been a stage he'd gotten over. 

Taking a deep breath, Mewtwo bit down on the firm berry, taking a good-sized proportion Mew wouldn't choke on and thoroughly chewed. He flinched at the tangy juices, and quickly took his thoughts away from the despised flavor to whatever popped into his head. The voice of Raikou from however-many-minutes-ago telling the dumb story about a lake catching fire distracted him enough he was truly thankful he got that image in his mind's eye. It was actually funny that a body of water would suddenly go up in flames all because Entei spoke or roared or whatever it was he was trying to do. At the next gathering, he'll have to thank the thunder beast for that vivid story.

Despite it not being a favored berry, Mewtwo was finding it tempting to swallow what he had. So he turned his attention to Mew, lifting her chin with his free hand. Leaning forward, he connected his lips to hers, forcibly dropping open her mouth to transfer the softened berry, quickly pulling away when all of it was disposed.

It didn't take long before her gag reflex kicked in. “ _Swallow it,_ ” he snapped in a demanding tone, glaring at her face when her eyes scrunched tightly. “ _We are not going to tolerate this while you are in this condition. You are to swallow it or die._ ”

It was painful and frustrating watching the attempt of Mew's body involuntarily try to reject the food while it forcibly wretched itself into working order. By some miracle or a tiny state of consciousness, Mewtwo couldn't tell how, she managed to swallow her first morsel in months. He chose to wait for any signs she would retch it up, then resumed when all was calm again. This time, all he focused on was getting Mew on the road to recovery. The more times he pushed the food through her teeth, the less repulsive it became and the more patient he was with her—somewhat. By the full consumption of the second berry, it was a routine he vowed to finish. The Bug Pokémon that were searching scattered when they saw everything was in good hands, but Mewtwo had since put them from his mind.

Having finished the first bite of the third fruit, he latched loosely to her lips, shoving it through to the back of the throat. There then came a small moan and a stir as Mew grew conscious, taking a deep breath through her open mouth. At this moment, however, Mewtwo was still connected to her, blocking any air she may have tried to suck into her airway, causing her to choke. He immediately pulled away, and she coughed violently, shaky hands clutching her throat. She had swallowed by then, but had done so wrongly it was enough to bring alertness to the Legendary.

Between uneven, gasped breaths and the harsh coughs, Mew was able to open her eyes to the world. Her vision watered while she regained her bearings and gulped down the needed oxygen, hazily staring at the figure of Mewtwo before her. Through her rapid blinking to clear the tears, she recognized the familiarity of his stare, amethyst irises watching her every move.

“M... Mewtwo?” she managed to choke out, hand caressing her throat.

“ _Mew._ ” He nodded, but she interpreted it as a mockery rather than a greeting. It was as though he was waiting for her to speak just so he could identify her. Whatever that meant—her mind was still everywhere at once.

The rosy feline took this time to slowly look around her surroundings, to be reintroduced to the world she had neglected. The place was well-known to her, the glistening lake behind her counterpart a give-away, but Mew couldn't remember the exact name of her location. Whether it was because everything was underground or her memory was just foggy, even she didn't know. 

Frowning, she muttered, “Where... where am I?”

“ _Mount Quena. Or at least underneath it. We are to be here for the time being._ ” He bit once more into the fruit. 

She minutely tilted her head when her vision crossed over to him. She stared with an almost blank look at his moving jaw. “What for?” was her next breath.

As cruel as it was, Mewtwo wanted to laugh at how she was oblivious to everything about herself. She had indeed become a pathetic creature, it was a wonder he even bothered helping her. His thoughts on her recovery, in the meantime, strictly kept him in line enough he only let out a huff at her little question. “ _For your safety. Now open up._ ”

“Wait... what are you... what did you sa—” Mew's inquiry was cut off when her clone held her chin down and put his mouth to hers. As swift as it was and the transferred berry was immediately swallowed, the sudden action made her head click, causing her to gasp and shrink before him. He raised a perplexed brow at her behavior, watching her eyes flicker to life with a horrified expression. She shivered under his gaze, scooting backward away from him and grasping onto the tree.

Peculiar first sign of recovery.

The two stared at each other without blinking, the start of a game neither wanted to lose. Mew remained squished up against the trunk, claws embedded into the bark as she tried to steady her quaking. Mewtwo still held the berry in his fingers, arms crossed across his chest as he looked down upon his counterpart, his eyes fixed onto hers with a tone of dissatisfaction and relief. He wasn't pleased she was wanting far away from him, but was yet proud to know he was soon freed from caring for her. It was indeed a quick recovery from a long period of starvation. His theory was the berries had been feeding from Clarity Lake and thus absorbed its healing minerals. He recalled the last few minutes and the hour he had found her in the Tree. She had been really pale, and so out of focus it was like she was comatose. Now as he looked upon her, the color was returning to her face, the eyes flaring up with a sense of awareness and emotion, and her body was regaining its strength. It truly was a remarkable thing, almost unnatural.

Mew was the first to speak, splitting the silence. “...What was that for?” 

The whisper was rather harsh, almost spitting out venom. He couldn't help but feel the twitch of a smirk at his lips. She still retained her self-esteem after all. “ _I just saved your life,_ ” he smugly answered, jutting out his chin a little. “ _This has been your first meal in many, many months. You are very lucky to even breathe, let alone digest._ ” Mewtwo tossed the rest of the berry into his mouth and chewed. “ _I am even surprised at how much strength you managed to recover._ ”

She continued to glower, slowly shaking her head if just a little. “I was talking about... what you just did. A minute ago, you... what did you...?”

He gave a short, wry laugh. “ _You mean this?_ ” And the clone quickly attached to her lips, shoving the half-chewed berry into her mouth.

He almost didn't get it in. The very moment their lips touched, Mew struggled to shake him off, digging her fingers into his face and pushing with what little might she had. She nearly spat out the morsel when she felt it slide against her tongue, but Mewtwo still had a hold on her and yanked her head back, forcing her to swallow it. Whether or not the remains of the berry had given her the strength needed, she managed to shove him away, even delivering a kick to his midriff.

“How DARE you!” she screamed, wiping at her mouth. “How dare you! What the _bloody hell_ did you do that for?!” 

As confusing as it was, he was angry toward the small feline's depreciation for him saving her life. He had to get over the thought of mouth-to-mouth transfer of chewed-up food in the middle of doing so, and she saw it as an offense. It was an insult to him, but also to her. He could have broken the promise to Ho-oh and let her die, or to avoid the whole thing, had given her to him or Shaymin, to let their mistakes not stir him in the least. He had that choice, and chose to instead care for her in a risky but safe environment. As much as he wanted to yell at her, to tell her the reasons he did such a thing, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Mewtwo didn't know why. Pride, blinding rage, whatever was holding him back kept him from saying so. He could only glare back into her flaming sapphire eyes, matching her anger.

With a sniff, he stood up. “ _I can see you will not be needing my help after all,_ ” he noted, turning his back on her.

“No, I do not!” she snapped, spitting off to the side. “I can make it on my own.”

“ _Then why wait several months before you decided to eat again?_ ” came the retort. “ _Why decide to become weak to the point you could barely even move? Why?_ ” 

Taking a glance, he caught her freezing in place, eyes averting to the pile of berries. A small smile of sweet victory grew on his face when she hesitantly picked one up only to clench her mouth shut. She stared at the fruit anxiously for a moment before bringing herself to glimpse up at Mewtwo. “I-I... Well... it's none of your business,” she stammered, scowling and returning her gaze back to the berry. He recognized it as a Lum, recalling from memory it was her favorite berry. “It doesn't concern you.” She silenced herself, frowning at the touch of rough skin, skimming the tips of her claws on the surface.

“ _Are you going to eat it?_ ” 

She shifted uncomfortably. “Of course I will.” Mew was sounding unsure of herself, he could hear it in her small voice. It was disappointing. His challenge wasn't affecting her the way he thought it normally would have. She had indeed grown weak. Why indeed was the real mystery. 

Mewtwo brought himself to kneel back in front of her, grasping her jawline with a lone hand. He lifted her vision to cross his, stern eyes watching her flinch, wanting to free herself from his grip. “ _Then let me see you take a bite,_ ” he offered slowly, lifting his brows. “ _Prove to me this does not concern me._ ”

A quiet shuddering gasp, her fingers clutching the berry tightly, eyes widening—signs she didn't expect his witness—but she nodded. She was released without another response, her prosecutor rooted in place. Her eyes dropped to the fruit, steadily loosening her hold while twisting it around in her paws. Taking deep, somewhat shaky breaths, Mew kept glancing between the Lum berry and Mewtwo while raising it to her lips. Carefully, but painstakingly, her teeth cut through a good-sized portion with a soft crunch. Her eyes began to water at the sweetness of the juices, but dared not let any tears flow. She remained hesitant, however, as her brows began to furrow. He had a feeling she was fighting with herself, almost as though another her was trying to give instructions or hold her back.

After a painful minute, she finally bit down on the morsel with her front teeth, but her jaw either locked or her incisors glued together. Mew whined quietly, raising a hand to her mouth to pry it open. It was the movement Mewtwo wasn't happy to see, his suspicions confirmed. When the feline managed to poke her finger in to un-stick her teeth, her jaw dropped and the complete, barely-marked piece fell out in a dribbled mess to the grass below. Her mouth remained open, pride keeping the Legendary from crying while her head hung, eyes sealed shut by her growing tears. Sneering, the clone took away her berry and bit down on it where she had started. Within a few moments, he chewed enough he lifted her chin to close his lips on hers, pushing it through.

Mew tensed up each and every time he connected, hands shooting up involuntarily as the tremble ran down her spine, guiding the food down her throat. Mewtwo held a good grip to keep her steady, tilting her head back to make it easier on the both of them. No line of conversation was spoken between the two, leaving them in blessed quietness. There was a hint of wind blowing in, the scent of rain among it. She barely shivered; he was shielding her from the majority of the current. Even then, his breath over her lips and into her airway kept her warm, a sensation that calmed her jumpy arms and dulled the chill.

None of them knew how long they were there, how much she was fed the Lum. Mew appeared to have lost touch of all her senses growing more used to her clone's presence and by ignoring his touches and crunches, barely noticing her swallowing. She was more-or-less lost in thought, feeling she was herself again except for a blank spot in her memory from her withdrawal. Physically, there was strength, a rush of power as everything began working normally. It wouldn't be long now.

An arm suddenly jerked, and Mew's senses refocused. Immediately, she felt the inside of her mouth was warm and moist. The transition of temperature had stopped, her lips slightly parted and covered. Mewtwo's hand on the back of her head still gripped but loosely, hardly moving. Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. It was... strange. Was he finished? Did she happen to sleep all day?

Slowly but surely, she opened her eyes, tears long ago subsided, meeting the soft gaze of violet. She couldn't help staring back. There was a different impression in the depths, the sight of an actual living, breathing, _feeling_ soul, a light shining through that wasn't there before. It was beautiful. To be sure she could breathe, Mew took a breath.

There was movement, a light pressure against her mouth, and the eyes closed. She mimicked, still seeing the picture of the unknown soul in her mind's eye. No, it wasn't unknown. It was a familiar presence that finally showed itself unto her. She tried to inhale again, and instead felt a soft skim upon her lips, followed by a deep, subdued moan. A tingle ran down her back when the hand behind her head slid to cup her face, the thumb lingering on her chin. She felt her mouth drop before it was gently snagged back in place, and there was slight parting for a quiet breath.

Mew gasped, eyes snapping back wide open to see the soul peer at her through the own eyes of Mewtwo. Something burned inside her chest when they crossed gazes, an ache that shot outward with every heartbeat. Taken aback, she swiftly separated space between them, pushing herself closer to the tree.

He only stared back with a puzzled look at her astonished expression until he shook his head, raising a hand to his forehead. Standing up, he quickly turned away to avoid her gaze. There was a moment of muttering until Mew could hear him say, “ _The rest you will use as practice._ ” Then he walked off soundlessly, strolling along the lake's edge without looking back.

She watched him leave, trying to calm her trembling. A hand rose to touch her lips, cold sweat beginning to form. All the meantime, she whispered back-and-forth to herself, “He didn't mean it, honestly he didn't,” and, “It's just a dream.” She repeated this under her breath until she drifted off to sleep, finding herself suddenly tired.

There was rain in the air, but even that couldn't make her any colder than she already was.


	3. Lose Control

“ _When they all come crashing down—midflight_

_You know you're not the only one”_

_\-- “The Only One”, Evanescence, “The Open Door”_

*~*~*

Within the following couple of months of living under Mount Quena, Mew slowly learned to eat again and redevelop her abilities. The miraculous healing power of Clarity Lake brought back the color to her face and eyes, and her fur developed a sheen of a perfect well-being. Though now able to to reuse her powers, as expected, she procrastinated her training to play with the Bug larvae or visit the lake's inhabitants. There were days Mewtwo attempted to get her to strengthen her special abilities only to result in a cat-and-mouse chase that would last into the evening. Her excuse was that she trained _and_ played at the same time (by fleeing from him, he amended to himself). The happier she became, she once explained, the healthier she would be—which he found hard to believe.

In truth, she refused to let her counterpart get within reach of her since the day they had arrived, she just kept the reason to herself. As the memory of his lips against hers remained fresh, she had resorted to playing in an effort to push it from her mind. At night, however, Mew could not escape the senses she had felt in those few moments, nor the ache left behind in her chest. She grew restless, even once staying up until dawn exploring her temporary home and forcibly memorizing every little detail. It pushed progress back a few days, much to her clone's disappointment, but if anything could distract her mind from it and keep her away from him, she would do it.

As a result of her uncooperative behavior, Mewtwo eventually gave up trying to get her in line about a month in. He trusted Mew enough to at least exercise her jaw for a few minutes a day, and let her be about her own business. While he generally ignored many of the inhabitants, he had soon found himself talking to the alpha, unable to forget the familiarity of its aura. After the first few days of their acquaintance, he had learned the Scyther was a direct descendant from the Scyther clone, whom he had not seen since their departure centuries ago. The physique of abnormal strength and valor was enough for him to figure it out without confronting the male, though the talks about one of his grandfathers outliving many generations until his death some ten years prior evaluated his suspicions.

“I still do not get it how it was possible he lived that whole time,” the mantis had sighed, shaking his head. “It seemed so... unusual. We thought he was immortal.”

Mewtwo thought over the possibilities for a while, even questioning Mew at one point about her species' lifespan (when she was close enough to ask). Shrugging, she had only said, “Even I'm a bit concerned about my lifespan. My mother passed away when I was a kitten, and that's _still_ too young for a Mew.”

It wasn't very much help, and he fretted over an answer, mainly a theory, for a proper explanation. He himself found it a bit baffling how he had managed to outlive even his own clones, but could only recall legends humans believed were the secrets to a Legendary's long lifespan. Curiously interesting legends they were, though not enough to satisfy and prove.

Still, the Scyther was persistent to know more about his ancestor, asking continuous inquiries about who he was, where he came from, and how Mewtwo knew him. He didn't mind answering them the best he could, but he was skeptical doing so. He wanted to make sure his past would remain a secret even when he wasn't haunted by it anymore; then again, this Scyther wanted answers. It was very unlikely he had traveled away from his home, let alone knew about the current and past events. It was better him than a common Pidgey.

By the time the second month of their stay arrived, the two were finding themselves friends, enjoying each other's company while Mew played with the Bug larvae. It became routine for Scyther to arrive after his daily patrol and share a chat with the psychic. Today was no different as he approached Mewtwo, who was resting underneath the basswood, watching Mew toss squealing larvae into a shallow area of the lake.

“ _I am not solely responsible for what Mew will do to those children,_ ” he cautiously stated without looking up, waving a hand nonchalantly. “ _I am but a lifeguard._ ”

“Again? What, has this been the fifth time she made you a lifeguard?” Scyther scoffed, sitting cross-legged beside him. “She must not like you very much.”

“ _Obviously. She wanted me as far away as possible, and I happily took that opportunity. I would leave her here, but I am forbidden to._ ”

“Why is that?”

“ _She is still unstable, and Ho-oh entrusted her to me._ ” He sneered at the memory from two months back. “ _To this day, I do not know why I even bothered._ ”

The mantis nodded, his attention to the childish scene. Mew picked up a young Wurmple and gently hurled it behind her head, forming a small rosy bubble and shooting it back without taking a glance. The young caterpillar bounced off it into the shallow water with a laugh, gaining some cheers from its friends. Even she gave a compliment, guiding it back to the shore before reaching for a Weedle.

Scyther blinked. “She looks fine. I'd say she's healthier now.”

“ _But not pleasing enough,_ ” Mewtwo snorted, rolling his eyes. “ _She still has her sleeping habits to work out, and I have to make sure she can eat solids without choking. I just wonder if she will let me get near her by the time that happens._ ”

“All females are like that, it's normal,” the alpha male waved off, chuckling to himself. “Even _I_ have trouble going near my mate whenever she is in one of her moods.”

Mewtwo could beg to differ. As far as he knew, only Pikatwo and Meowtwo's mates were never seen apart from them, so it was not surprising they had many offspring. The female clones were very friendly and had self-control of their attitudes, possibly one reason why a few had found mates within the group. Overall, the clones he had ended up running into over the years all had loyal mates, even those few with some rage and hormonal issues. It was a rather curious practice, almost similar to what humans called marriage in their customs. Then again, those faithful females, both human and Pokémon, were different. They weren't raised in the wild to live by “survival of the fittest”. It was like each one of them, as few as they were, knew their place without question or rebellion. Sibling-rivalry was an exception, it always had been (likewise with Suicune's case, he pitied her).

But what did he know? He never found a mate (nor planned to anytime soon), and hung out with so few proper females it was fairly baffling to stereotype the opposite sex. So Mewtwo kept quiet, catching the sight of Mew throwing a few larvae at one time to the bubble. A Caterpie ended up sticking his pads to the surface, rolling it forward with its burden. The children laughed hopping in place, a few wanting a try. When Mew rescued the worm, the bubble popped upon removal, the remains stuck on the feet.

She giggled as the Caterpie started eating it, taking the membrane away and scolding him gently with a smile. “You are not supposed to eat bubbles, silly.”

“I just wanted to taste it,” was the innocent reply, the caterpillar hanging his head in shame. “It was plain anyway.”

And she laughed once more, twirling him around. Mewtwo frowned at her tone. It had been a long time since he last heard her laugh, but it wasn't hers. The laugh he knew was more bubbly, carefree, and liable to get stuck in one's head for a while and drive to insanity. Here, it articulated as short-lived and controlled. It was as though she forgot how to express joy and was afraid to bring attention to herself. She didn't sound like a child anymore...

“You want her, don't you?”

The clone whipped his head around to face the unflinching mantis, eyes wide but leery. “ _What was that?_ ” he snapped.

Scyther shrugged, his head tilted in speculation and brows raised. “I've seen that look before. You seek after her, but are either afraid or unable to.”

“ _What is that supposed to mean?_ ” Mewtwo growled, irises flashing almost menacingly.

Unaffected by the intimidation, Scyther continued noting, “I take it this is your first time. Don't try to deny it, I've seen how you act around her. It's not much, but there's enough evidence to know you are showing some feelings toward her.”

“ _I have no such thing!_ ”

“I'm telling you to not deny it, Mewtwo, because it's apparent there's some chemistry going on. The way you never let her out of your sight, the far-away look in your eyes a minute ago, anxiety, intimate closeness, there's many other signs.”

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. “ _Intimate closeness, you say? I tell you now that we have done nothing of the sort._ ”

Holding up his scythes, the alpha quickly added, “It's not limited to just mates, it also goes for friendships and familial love. Though I was hinting at what happened when you were helping her eat. I have never seen such a thing before even among family members. It made me wonder if you two are very close friends for her to allow that.”

Inwardly, he flinched at the mention of his chewing for her. He was vaguely aware there were others watching, but they all had left shortly afterward as far as he knew. He remembered the Kakuna and wondered if they had witnessed the whole event. “ _There was no other way to give her the nutrition needed,_ ” he admittedly said, scowling. “ _It was not an option I wanted to do, but it was my duty._ ”

“But there was one other incident, wasn't there?” Scyther pointed out, a bladed forearm placed underneath his chin in thought. “Something happened between you two that caused this separation, right? I didn't see it, but from what I heard, it was a very unusual gesture, even for Pokémon.”

Damn Kakuna. “ _'Unusual'._ ”

The alpha Bug nodded. “Indeed. Each Pokémon species have a rather unique way of showing affection. Pidgey groom each other, Arbok perform a kind of hypnotic dance, Volbeat and Illumise create light shows, to name a few. You and Mew, however...” He paused, staring at Mewtwo with a look of uncertainty. “What does your species do, Mewtwo?”

He had feared this question before it was ever fabricated. Many times, he tried hard not to dwell on the fact he was one-of-a-kind, the first and last of his own species. But not even he, the world's strongest Pokémon, could escape the cruel fate of loneliness. Mewtwo looked back at Mew, who had by now given each larva their own bubble to bounce and crawl on. She flew about each and every one to help keep them balanced, applauding at every successful trick they may have performed.

“ _I will be honest with you, Scyther, that even I am unaware how I, my own species, show affection._ ”

The mantis raised a brow disconcertingly at his grim tone. “You're your own species?”

A slow, hesitant nod. “ _I am the result of man's attempt to play God on orders. I am half-Mew, but the other I am ashamed to say is human._ ”

“Human? So wait... you're saying—”

“ _When you are the only member of your kind, you tend to grow lonely,_ ” the feline resumed his musing, vision unfaltering from his counterpart's direction. “ _You capture other Pokémon just to clone them out of selfishness, giving life to something that was already living. As time goes on, you realize how difficult it is to be a free spirit when the decisions you make are not your own. Even after you discover who you are, questions still remain, questions that may never be answered in this life. Then again, you wonder if a man-made creature such as yourself_ _ **has**_ _other lives than just the present. You fear the end even though you look forward to it, just as you fear the beginning._ ”

Mewtwo tore his eyes away toward the mantis' direction. “ _This lake may have given me life, Scyther, but there are certain blessings given to God's creatures that I know I am forbidden to receive because I am Man's creature, and Man is opposite of God. I may feel this affection you say I have, but I may never receive it._ ”

Scyther shook his head. “But you are able to. If my grandfather is a clone like you said, then what he was blessed with will be given to you.”

“ _Your grandfather had no serious sin upon his shoulders, no shadow of regret in the back of his conscious. Everything he ever did was of my own doing, my will over-powering his._ ” He turned back his attention to Mew, who was holding onto the Caterpie's front suctions to help him hop. “ _I killed and controlled life by my own agency. I bring nothing but destruction in my wake. Were I to have a mate, even a child, neither of them would last very long by my hands. I am a cursed being doomed to desire but not receive. What I did to Mew was as such. My desire was not returned, at least not in the way I had hoped it would. That, my friend, is my human side..._ ”

Mewtwo closed his eyes, thinking back to the first day. He once again felt the soft flesh of Mew's lips against his, her breath mingling with his life, welcoming it into her lungs. She was untouched, leaving her taste pure as fresh rain and her fur delicate as the cloud. Her eyes were richly illuminated by the sunlight, reflecting a brilliant shade of blue he had never before seen. Inside the depths was what remained of her innocent spirit, reaching out for help, for another chance at life. Her first deep breath carrying his life was the spirit's start of its first breath of life: it was her kiss.

But just as quickly as it started, the resuscitation came to a sudden halt. Mew became dismayed and pulled free of the transfer, starting the rift between them. And yet, he could never forget the dying spirit of innocence that relied on him for a starting breath.

“ _I forced her to be that part of me, if only just for a moment. A normal Pokémon would never dare overpower another's will. Only man has ever done that._ ” Mew's laughter brought him out of his thoughts, bringing his vision back to her play. Somehow, the Caterpie had bounced so hard his bubble snapped in half. She hoisted him onto her back to allow him to ride while she flew around, making the other children jealous and wanting to fly as well.

He blinked when Scyther gently laid the blunt side of his scythe on his shoulder in a comforting manner. It was a silent, simple sentence in a gesture: “I understand.”

The clone took a side-ways glance at it, feeling a light burden dissipate. “ _Thank you for listening. I am sorry if I was becoming a bore._ ”

The alpha only smiled. “Actually, it was very interesting. It explained a lot about yourself, about why you are so different from other Pokémon. I can honestly say I have seen and heard it all, though I don't think many will believe me.”

Mewtwo quietly chuckled. “ _I suppose not._ ”

There suddenly came a shout of surprise as one of the children cried out “There's something in the lake!”, startling the others.

All eyes looked toward the middle where a shadow was forming. Mew positioned herself in the front to defend the larvae, quickly waving them back to shore. Mewtwo immediately stood up with Scyther, eyes narrowing. A long, almost mournful cry sounded, and a large waterspout crashed through the surface in a flurry of white. The cause of it revealed itself as Lugia when he stretched his wings in a flap, the sparkling water flying off in all directions. It was an attention-grabber, every inhabitant turning to the stranger only to give out cries of respect upon recognition.

Though taken aback by the welcome, the water dragon drifted up to the small Legendary, perching in front of her, feet partially submerged. “Mew, thank goodness you're okay!” he greeted.

She grinned. “Lugia! How'd you find us?”

“Underwater cavern. A very tight space it was, but never mind that. Ho-oh sent me to find you and Mewtwo. Speaking of which, where is he?”

Mew glimpsed behind her shoulder when he launched to her side, staring up at Lugia. “ _Something happened, did it not?_ ” he queried, though it was more of a suspicion than a question. His counterpart side-stepped, returning her attention to the Sea Guardian.

“You're smart enough, Mewtwo, figure it out,” the newcomer immediately retorted, glaring down at him. “What is really the only other reason I would be here?”

As rude as Lugia was, he ignored the irritated tone. “ _War has begun._ ”

Scyther appeared by the children, awed at the majesty of the dragon. When he heard the statement, he exclaimed, “War! A human war?”

Acknowledging the alpha, the beast nodded. “It's been declared sometime last month, and since then there have been tons of casualties. But what's even worse is that everyone is being involved in this.”

“Everyone?” Mew gasped. “How did this happen?”

Lugia craned his head. “Oh, you weren't... 'really there' when it happened,” he said, using his wings as air-quotes.

She raised a brow giving him a warning look, folding her arms.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, whatever. When Sinnoh was bombed by Orre a couple of months ago, just about every single region went at war with Orre within a week's time.” A snort escaped his beak. “It seems they all want a piece of them, I suppose.”

“Wait, you said Sinnoh was bombed?!”

Mewtwo stepped in before Lugia could speak again. “ _I would stop if I were you,_ ” he warned. “ _You are not here to stir anyone up. Ho-oh is calling for an immediate gathering, and there is no time to slack off._ ”

“Okay, smart-ass, next time _I'll_ take care of Mew and _you_ can be the messenger since you know everything,” the dragon remarked snappily, pointing at himself then to the feline. “Had that been the case, I wouldn't have wasted my time tracking you down. Why the hell did you have to choose such a secluded area to live in? Don't you know how long it took me to find a way here?”

A glare sparked a harsh glow to life in the clone's eyes. “ _If_ _ **you**_ _knew what was the best way for a full recovery, you would go through the same extremes to make it possible. The difficult, the better._ ”

Lugia flinched, sneering slightly. “Sheesh, I'm sorry, okay? I've been through a lot the past two months, haven't _you_? Oh wait, let me guess.” He mockingly pinched his brows and touched his temple, scrunching his eyes shut. “You've been living the secluded, simple, happy life without a care in the world. And at one point you and Mew messed around with each other in a secluded, simple, happy place, naughty naughty.” He stole a peek at the two, smirking at the infuriated expression frozen on Mewtwo's face and the shiver running through Mew's body. Scyther only blinked while the larvae stared up in puzzlement at the giant Legendary. “Ha, I'm good.”

“Lugia, that isn't funny!” she shouted, a faint flush on her face. She spun around behind the younglings and gathered them around her. “There are children here, you should know better!”

“I don't get the joke,” the Caterpie squeaked. Mew laid a hand on his antennae, silently praising his innocence.

He scoffed, throwing up his wings. “I was just teasing! Come on, lighten up, it's been a hard couple of months!”

“ _There are more serious matters out there than an idiotic joke,_ ” Mewtwo remarked, his tail whipping in annoyance. “ _Let us get going and meet the others. Time is crucial._ ” He turned back to face the Scyther, bowing politely in place. “ _Thank you for letting us stay here. Had it not been for your kindness, Mew would not have healed as nicely._ ”

The alpha bestowed the thanks kneeling before him. “And I thank you for saving our goddess and showing us your kindness. You have been a good friend. May we meet again.”

Mew solemnly listened to their farewells between hugging each of the larvae. The way the Scyther addressed her as such hit a nerve, remembering the inhabitants of the Tree and at how they used to honor her as such. She truly was going to miss the underground lake and its loving atmosphere. “Farewell, children,” she whispered, squeezing the last child.

“Good-bye, Mew!” they chanted in unison. “We'll miss you!”

She smiled, poking the Weedle's nose. “Remember, there's no such thing as 'good-bye', only 'see you later'.”

“Oh, okay!” They then took a deep breath and shouted, “See you later!” a couple jumping in place.

Laughing, the Legendary once again hugged them before flying back to Lugia who was scanning the cavern. She looked toward Scyther, giving him a bow as well. He returned it, eyes welling up. “It's been an honor having you here,” he told her humbly. “Our home has never been happier, and the children love you. We will never forget what you have done for us.”

“Same here.”

“Okay, why wasn't I notified that there was a freakin' opening?” the beast blurted out suddenly, glaring up at the hole above them. “I squeezed through a narrow tunnel for nothing?”

“ _Do not even bother,_ ” Mewtwo muttered, shaking his head. “ _You are larger than the opening by twice its size. You would get stuck headfirst attempting it_.” Finding himself without any other options, Lugia darkly cursed himself for his large stature and Mewtwo's “purposeful choice” hiding underground. He glanced over at Mew, cocking an eyebrow as though to prove his point. She only frowned, averting his look. “ _So, Mew, are you capable of Teleporting, or are you not that confident yet?_ ”

She just shrugged. “I can Teleport.”

“ _Let me rephrase that: are you capable of Teleporting to_ _ **outside**_ _of the area?_ ”

“Um...” She did a nervous double-take, biting her lip.

Her answer was as expected, displeasing her clone even further. “ _Well, had you been doing as told, you would be more confident performing such a task._ ”

“I have so!” she defended, snapping her eyes toward him. “You've seen me with the children!”

“ _That was child's play. The world is not merciful to its protectors, Mew, and you know it._ ”

“And why would it matter to you? What have _you_ done to protect the world?”

“ _ **I**_ _rescued the most important protector from herself!_ ” he lashed out, getting into her face, motivating her to back up. “ _The very protector who is the hope, the source of reason of this world living another day. But how does she thank me, this selfless,_ _ **loving**_ _guardian? By fooling around, and rejecting the very existence of him who SAVED HER_ _ **LIFE!**_ ”

The water dragon abruptly smacked him across the head with a wing. One of the children gasped, Mew shot her hands to her mouth with wide eyes, and shocked murmurs spread through the watching crowd. “Don't be a jackass, Mewtwo! She's just getting her bearings!” he shouted.

A growl rumbled in Mewtwo's throat, fists clenching tightly as he slowly faced Lugia. His optics were veiled over with a fiery blue, face darkened and teeth bared. The sight of his increasing rage made the beast back away, regretting his action.

Slowly, but harshly, the clone spoke. “ _I am doing my duty in returning her to the realities of the world. I want her back to who she was before her depression._ ” His voice was lenient but very deadly, on the edge of snapping. He stepped forward, causing his peers to recoil. “ _You and I know damn well that she is still unstable. We all have the world closing in on us, you can feel it as much as Mew._ ” Another approach and his foot touched the lake's edge, angry vibes rolling off him and rippling through the water.

Mew started to quake, tensing when his negative energy stung through her. She reached out a shaky hand only to have it repelled by an invisible psychogenic field. “M-Mewtwo... please,” she gasped. “He didn't mean it.”

He only continued his advances, the waves growing more powerful and widespread. “ _If you are so concerned about Mew as you say, why did_ _ **you**_ _not take responsibility and see to it that she would recover the_ _ **proper**_ _way?_ ”

“Mewtwo, think about what you're doing,” Lugia nervously said, imploringly glancing up at Mew as he inched backward, nearly avoiding stumbling over his tail. “Remember where you are and who's watching. There are children here. D-Don't want to give them a wrong message, right?” He pitifully grinned, attempting to lighten up the mood.

Mewtwo remained unchanged, though his fists were radiant with azure flames and his voice was growing more bitter. “ _Does my choice of location disappoint you, Lugia? What were you hoping for, Mount Silver?_ ” Stronger shock waves expanded at his next step, then were more powerful as he quickened his pace. “ _How about the Orange Archipelago, no? Or Lake of Rage? It is beautiful this time of year. What about the Whirl Islands? Tohjo Falls?_ _ **New Island?!**_ ” A psychic blast burst from the rage, knocking the dragon off his feet and careening into deeper water. Behind him the children were crying, their parents swarming in to carry them off to shelter. Scyther led others away from the area, ready to signal evacuation at a moment's notice.

Mew was hardly aware of it, attention transfixed on the terror unfolding before her. She had found herself more afraid of Mewtwo, frozen in place while the waves of his anger pierced her core. It was after the brutal attack did she finally take action. “Mewtwo, stop it!” she screamed, flying to the middle of the two and spreading out her arms, facing her counterpart. “No more, please! Let us just go!”

He paused, standing feet away from her position. She dreadfully stared back into his blazing eyes, visibly trembling in fear. From behind, she heard Lugia struggling to pick himself up, sensing his gaze. Mewtwo kept his dark look upon her, taking in her unsteady posture. When he spoke, his tone of voice had softened, though the ire was still audible. “ _Step aside. This does not concern you._ ”

She shook her head. “Prove it, then,” she challenged. “Prove to me that I should not be concerned about this.”

He barked a long, cold laugh as he stepped forward. “ _So. Using one of my own methods against me, are you?_ ”

“It works, that's all I care about!”

The laughter resumed, steadily becoming crueler the nearer he progressed, fists unclenched enough the flames died out. Mew stood her ground, using her willpower to control her wavering. It was tempting to back away, to keep him as far away as possible, her mind and even the children hollering at her to run. She still chose to stare her prosecutor down, telling herself she was strong enough now to hold him back to at least give Lugia time to recover, or even go for help. She honestly wouldn't blame him if he did.

Mewtwo's laugh quieted to a faint chuckle when he reached her in knee-deep water, bodies a hair's breadth from the slightest touch. The smaller Legendary glowered back, slowly dropping her arms to show her neutrality. A crooked smile then spread and his eyes flashed alive with malice, startling her. His hand snatched her by the throat, cutting off any attempt to gasp or scream, and pulled her up to his eye-level. Mew grasped his fingers with both hands, straining to loosen them as she struggled in his grip.

“ _How foolish of you to think that,_ ” he cackled, giving her a slight shake. “ _It only worked because you are too naïve, too pitiful to think for yourself. Had you been less stubborn and allowed me to care for you, you would have been healed a long time ago._ ”

Mew weakly whimpered when he squeezed harder, vision blurring upon staring into his blue-filmed eyes. There was an unfamiliar presence lingering behind the translucent veil, the dark look not naturally Mewtwo's. A shiver ran up her spine at the sight, spotting the snake-like pupils. She had seen him in a rage a few times in the past, but never was he this uncontrollable, so full of hatred. He looked possessed like he was an object. It seemed inhumane, even _devilish_. She glanced away, trying to take a breath while resuming her effort to break free.

Mewtwo scoffed, shaking his head at the distressing attempt. He raised a lone finger to graze slowly down her jawline. “ _I honestly cannot say what I saw in you, Mew,_ ” he murmured, savoringly watching her squirm, “ _at what motivated me to save you._ ” He leaned further in to take up more of her sight, his lips curled wickedly as he nipped her bottom lip for a choked gasp. “ _But you and I have all the time in the world to get... reacquainted._ ”

Her eyes scrunched shut, releasing a tear to cascade quickly down her face. Bending his neck, the clone licked it up, callously following the salty trail it left behind. Mew managed a small, helpless cry until he roughly discarded her to the side. Lugia shouted her name, spreading his wings and triggering a strong gust. Mewtwo launched himself from the water and sped for his target, hands flaring up again. The beast braced himself, straightening out his tail and eying the aggressor. Raising his arm, the feline powered up an assault, aiming for the ribs while the water dragon swung superbly—

—just as a pair of arms threw themselves around Mewtwo's neck from behind.

Their attacks made contact the moment a flash of light illuminated them, blinding the awing on-lookers. It dissipated as speedily as it came, and the Bugs saw to their disbelief the Legendaries vanished. Buzzing murmurs and gasps of concern spread through the inhabitants. Scyther himself couldn't believe what had happened, at what was dangerously close to being their doom. The bravery of a tiny Legendary, their goddess, prevented destruction with little power to start with.

Silently, he prayed for their safety, and for the removal of madness in Mewtwo's heart.


	4. Apocalyspe

“ _Now the day has come_

_We are forsaken_

_There's no time anymore_

_Life will pass us by_

_We are forsaken_

_We're the last of our kind”_

_\-- “Forsaken”, Within Temptation, “The Silent Force”_

*~*~*

“What do you mean Rayquaza is unable to make it?”

Deoxys only shrugged, rolling his eyes. “ _Aw, hell if I know. He just suddenly told me he had to go do something and mentioned about not being able to come. Then he flew into the stratosphere._ ”

Ho-oh grumbled to himself, pinching his brows. Today wasn't going to be a good day; it was starting to feel more like a hundred years ago than two months. Since Rayquaza ditching the conference was a normal occurrence (even with a good excuse), he usually wouldn't have bothered. The difference was the urgency, and after the declaration of war, attendance was mandatory—time was of the essence.

“He's probably cleaning the ozone again,” he muttered with a sigh. “We should expect a satellite shower sometime soon.” He ushered the three Regis into the trees when they arrived, mentally checking them off.

The alien scoffed. “ _Yeah, I'll tell everyone that._ ”

He turned to walk for the clearing when a bright flash lit the area, forcing the two to shield their eyes (and for Deoxys to cuss loudly). When it faded, they blinked up at the arrival of Mewtwo and Lugia, immobilized in what appeared to be the beginning of mortal combat. The feline's fist was frozen at the beast's chest, while the spiked tail was pushing into his hip. They blinked, breathing heavily and bodies trembling as they tried to relax, stepping away from each other.

Ho-oh, after staring in bewilderment, nearly let out a holler, flailing his wings about. “What is the meaning of this?! Lugia, I told you to fetch them for me, not get in a fight!”

Lugia twitched and popped his neck facing the phoenix. “Ow... we can explain... sorta.”

“Ho-oh, we saw a flash from the clearing, what happe—oh, it's just them.” Entei had come crashing through the trees, skidding to a stop beside Deoxys in a half-disappointed, half-relieved mood. He did a double-take upon seeing the DNA Legendary's face, tilting his head. “What's with him? Where's Rayquaza?”

“Never mind, Entei, get back to your seat,” the Sky Guardian snapped, shooing him away. When he sulked back into the wood, Ho-oh spun around and faced the two, scowling. He looked them over, noticing someone was missing. “Where's Mew? Did you leave her behind?”

Mewtwo raised a hand to massage his temple, groaning and swaying in place. “ _Oh, what a headache... Sorry, Ho-oh, what did you say?_ ”

“Mew! Where is she?!”

The clone paused, furrowing his brows in thought. The latest recollection was yelling at Mew before a blow to his head, and then blackness, which was a curious flaw. There was, however, a moment in which he felt like taking his anger out on someone or anything to get his mind off whatever was preying on him. A sense of... failure? Rejection? His headache worsened at the frustration, and he collapsed to his knees. A bump to his cheek made him flinch and turn to the source.

It was Mew, draped over his shoulder in exhaustion, her grip around his neck weakening. She was in tears, diminutive body shaken with silent sobs, and droplets of blood on her bottom lip. She tried to lift her head away from touching him, only to roll off him to a patch of dirt, landing on her side. The headache being not a concern as it dulled, he reached for her.

“Don't... touch me,” came her hushed whisper, shrinking away as she leered up at her counterpart. “Stay away... never touch me.” Slowly, Mew lifted her tired self to her knees and scooted back as far as possible from Mewtwo's reach. Then steadily, when she was mentally refreshed, the tiny feline levitated to a pleasing height, continuing inching backward without an averting glance or change of expression. “You've done your protection,” came her quiet affront, tail whipping angrily at an angle.

Deoxys held back a snicker, catching the others' attentions. Had he a visible mouth, he would be grinning awkwardly. “ _Sorry, it's just funny the way she said it,_ ” he giggled. “ _Sounds like Mewtwo fucked up big time. Possibly both figuratively_ _ **and**_ _literally..._ ”

“Deoxys, you have the crudest imagination among all of us,” Lugia grumbled, shaking his head disparagingly. “You sicken me.”

“ _Well, you're the jackass among all of us, so_ _ **you**_ _sicken me._ ”

“Go to hell.”

The alien only replied by scratching at his face obscenely with a finger until he caught Ho-oh's warning glare. The look telling him “I'll deal with you later”, the bird stepped forward to Mew's side. He looked over at Mewtwo as he stood up, frowning at the distance between them. “Is there something I should know about here?” he wondered, raising his brows. “Confessions, maybe? Problems or concerns we should solve?” The phoenix ignored the quiet chuckle coming from Deoxys.

Immediately, the rosy cat pointed at her clone menacingly. “He violated a few codes, and then some.”

“Violations? How so?”

“He started the fight between him and Lugia.”

Mewtwo's eyes flashed briefly at her sudden accusation. His fingers clenched, but he remained silent to keep himself stable from any triggers ready to set him off, trying to fill in his blank moment. Whatever did happen to cause the fight was ready to spring up again in a heartbeat, the evidence was visible in her eyes. She was frightened, yet unaware of it with her mind being everywhere at once.

Lugia joining in didn't help one bit. “She has a point. He was just asking for it, what with him yelling at her and all that.”

Ho-oh's eyes narrowed half-incredulously, craning his head to the dragon. “Yelling at her? What about?”

“ _Protection,_ ” Deoxys hacked out, quickly pounding his chest.

“About her condition, really,” the beast muttered, doing the best he could to keep from whirling around and hitting him. “Sounded pissed about the whole thing. I don't know what went on the past two months, but I guess things took a turn for the worst.”

The Sky Guardian gave a slow, disgruntled sigh, feathers slightly bristling as he shook his head. “I knew better than to force her on you, Mewtwo,” he said in a faint regretful tone. “Shaymin offered to take her, after all. If you were so uncomfortable taking responsibility, why did you volunteer anyway, Mewtwo?”

He shifted his gaze to Ho-oh, mouth in a stern line. “ _As generous as Shaymin was, I did not feel Mew would be better off in her care as much as mine,_ ” he admitted. “ _I even had my doubts with your healing abilities, though frankly, this also applies to everyone else, even when I secretly hoped—and later cursed—that someone else would take her. It was surprising Latias chose Jirachi over her, but I do not blame her, nor anyone. Mew was not herself at the time. There was that possibility she would have become a whole different being during recovery._ ” He stole a quick glimpse at her, unaffected by her leering. “ _And with Mew being the most important figure of us all, failure was a death sentence, a punishment none of us would dare risk. Supposedly, only the_ _ **most**_ _important._ ”

“You had nothing to lose,” the phoenix suspected in surprise. “There was a high risk of losing one's position and even their own _life_ had Mew died. A _very_ high risk it was.” He unexpectedly uttered a quick laugh. “Are you saying this was a death wish, then?”

“ _No, nothing of the sort._ ”

A barely audible disappointed swear came from the alien. “ _Dammit, why wasn't it?_ ”

Ho-oh pretended not to have heard it. “Well, whatever the reason, all that matters is that Mew is well. Any of the violations you committed, Mewtwo, will be taken care of later. For now, let us head over to the clearing so we can begin.”

“W-Wait, you're putting it off?” Mew blurted out in awe, breaking her glare turning to the bird.

“We have much more to deal with than petty law-breaking.”

“What he did wasn't _petty_ , Ho-oh! It's serious!”

“Well, how serious is it, then?” he asked, spreading out his wings. “He started a fight with Lugia, he'll be dealt with later. The punishment will be minuscule as no one was injured in any way.”

“He fought with me as well!” she shouted. “He physically harmed me!”

Raising a skeptical brow, Ho-oh scanned her up and down. “I'm not seeing any bruises or cuts to prove he did.”

“He was _strangling_ me!”

Mewtwo frowned, crossing his arms and vainly trying to remember if he committed such an act. Everything Mew was accusing him of might have happened, it was not like her to lie or spread false rumors—for all he knew, anyway. She could have changed since her recovery or even during her depression, but what they were, if any, he could not say. Two months playing with children wasn't a very likely trigger that would activate sudden mood swings or split personality. He then thought back to the first day at Mount Quena. The rift between them didn't start until after her strength returned, at the very same moment he found himself lost in a kiss, staring at the broken, departing, _pleading_ soul of Mew's innocence...

“...swore to take care of you. Mewtwo hasn't done you any harm, or we would've known,” the impatient tone of Ho-oh refocused to his senses, drawing him away from the memory. He was even hearing the tension growing between Lugia and Deoxys, going into more depth about the fight Mew was arguing over. “Why are you so anxious to have him in trouble? Did something happen?”

“ _Yes_ , something happened!” she was hollering, hands balled into tight fists and tail snapping in every direction. “He's changed drastically! It's almost like he's become human!”

A moment of shocked silence hung in the air, every head turned to face her. The word made the suspected Legendary of concern wince inwardly, a non-existent punch to the gut making impact and spreading the freezing agonizing vibes throughout his body. His mind started flipping out, thoughts not like his own worrying over the suspicion she overheard his conversation with Scyther. Mewtwo was almost feeling helpless in this situation, doubtful he could clear his name and erase the very mention of the word describing who he, the world's strongest Pokémon, was not or is. Without casting his eyes about, he sensed the stares of astonishment and incredulity on him directly.

After a few deep breaths, the phoenix found his voice. “ _Human_ , Mew?” he echoed. “How such?”

“Well, he... everything about him is...” A quick breath to start over. “H-He... well... he just—It was the first day, a-and...” The assertive words that had filled her mouth had suddenly jumbled themselves around. She began to stammer, trying to retrieve her bearings and control her emotions to fight against the stupor of thought. It was a small blessing Mewtwo didn't expect he'd get.

Mew, in the meantime, struggled to find the right words to describe the wrongdoing of Mewtwo's. Ho-oh, Lugia, and Deoxys were staring at her, waiting for her to speak out on the events of their stay at Mount Quena. The flashback of that day instead caught her off guard, stirring up mixed feelings over it. She felt once more the rush of her emotions: defeat, astonishment, enlightenment, fear. Shivers ran up her back when the lingering touch of his fingers slid into place, the warmth of his mouth brushing against hers as she breathed him in... losing herself in his gentle amethyst gaze to see the soul dwelling inside—the faintest recollection of a moment's peace.

It was jolted from her when a weight slightly rested on her shoulder. She spun around to find Mewtwo standing beside her, his hand on her and eyes staring her down. Gasping horrifically, Mew swiftly pulled away from his grip, backing up and crying out, “Don't touch me!”

“ _Mew, you are growing pale and hyperactive,_ ” he explained, stepping forward and reaching for her. “ _You need to rest a little while._ ”

“No, get away from me!”

“I gave him the order to do so,” Ho-oh said, putting off the dismayed stare she gave him. “You are not feeling well at the moment. It's just until you calm down.”

“ _I'm_ not well? Not _calm_? Whatever gave you that impression?! DON'T _BLOODY_ TOUCH ME!” she shrieked at her counterpart, slapping his hand away when he extended out once more for her.

Mewtwo, though irritated, disregarded her demand and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in. She immediately began to scream, struggling in his hold and clawing at his flesh. He grimaced at the wounds, but held her close to his chest and headed for the wood. “No, _NO!_ RELEASE ME, MONSTER!” she yelled, then sank her teeth deep into his arm without warning.

Everyone gasped (with another nasty swear from Deoxys), eyes widening at the bloodshed. Mewtwo lurched painfully, but he continued unhesitant on his way for the clearing, neglecting his blood loss. Ho-oh promptly stepped in the way. “Mewtwo, let her go,” he ordered.

He pushed her closer, flinching more as she bit harder. “ _I cannot, Ho-oh,_ ” he replied grimly. “ _She may be unstable, but she will gain control of herself. She just needs time._ ”

“This has nothing to do with her being un _stable_!” Ho-oh exclaimed. “I only told you to lead her there, not grab her into a choke hold! You are allowing her to rip you apart!”

“ _And so I will._ ”

“If she crunches any harder, you are going to bleed to death!”

“ _I trust Mew will calm before that happens._ ” He felt her twitch when her head shifted, digging her claws into his skin. Without another word, he marched by the phoenix, head held high and his strides smooth. Lugia and Deoxys followed not far behind, worryingly staring at the trail of blood drops.

The walk was mainly silent, the only known sounds being the distant murmurs of the other Legendaries and muffled whimpers from Mew. Upon reaching the clearing and making their presences known, everyone held their breath or gaped at the gruesome scene. Mewtwo avoided locking eyes, taking his seat and hoisting his burden. She worsened her bite in retaliation, widening the wound so the mixture of blood and saliva dribbled down heavily.

Zapdos was the first to speak, dismayed at the outcome of the Legendary. “Mewtwo, what did you do to her?” he started to incriminate, his spiked golden feathers crackling.

The psycat slightly lifted his head, eyes focused forward, maintaining his silence. As offensive it was to not answer, he felt it best to show and not tell. It was expected of the thunder bird to be upset and pester him some more, but one of his sisters spoke up for him.

“Hey, Mewtwo, why the silent treatment?” Articuno asked, leaning forward for a better look, dim scarlet irises flaring in surprise. “Did something happen?”

“He's being bitten, of course something happened,” Moltres muttered, rolling her eyes. She glanced back at Mew, a frown on her beak. “She must be really angry.”

Latias got up from her seat, hands clasped together in worry. “But... it's unlike her to be angry like that, and she has gotten mad at me before.”

By surprise, Darkrai's eyes glowed a hazy turquoise, and he quickly drifted over to Mewtwo (who was remaining diligent in disregarding everyone's presences). “I'm sensing fear coming off her,” he eerily announced, a hint of relief in his voice. “And it's really strong. _Ohhh_ , something happened all right. If only she was asleep...” His hidden mouth began to water from the aura wavering off the smaller feline, fingers growing antsy.

“Darkrai, come away from them!” Cresselia cried out. “You wouldn't feed off of Mew, would you?”

“The temptation is really strong there,” the phantom admitted, eyes locked on the targeted Legendary and hands inching for her. “I shouldn't, but it's just... _begging_.” The moon swan came and hurriedly dragged him away, unexpectedly without a fight or complaint even though he moaned in disappointment, grasping his head. Deoxys snickered until Jirachi elbowed him.

Mew then started to stir, loosening her teeth from Mewtwo's arm. He groaned at the removal, eyes closing shut when the cool air rushed over the wound. There then was a drop of water hitting the lesion, and a stinging sensation began to spread, causing him to wince. He glanced down to see her gaze up at him, tears spilling down and dropping onto the bite marks below. Very little of his blood were on her incisors, but streams trickled off her bottom lip, which he remembered had been bleeding. She trembled, shifting her vision to the deep puncture wounds, taking in the free-flowing rivers running down his arm. Upon wiping her mouth and spotting the crimson smear on her paw, a strangled gasp escaped from her as she quickly crawled away from his hold. She avoided looking again at the infliction or even at her clone, bending over to bury her face into her hands.

Mewtwo averted his gaze to the wound and ran his now-glowing hand down his arm as though attempting to swipe off the blood. The bleeding immediately stopped, but he left it alone to allow the markings to heal properly. It would be a scar in the end, a permanent reminder of his mistakes.

Ho-oh momentarily walked into the clearing, solemnly but steadily. He took not one glimpse at anyone upon entering, stepping up to the top of his rock as speaker of the counsel. Wings folded behind him, he rose his gaze to the crowd, casting his eyes about. He was silent for a few moments, taking in his fellow peers and their postures, noticing how they were barely aware he had arrived. Looking over to where Mew and Mewtwo sat, he sighed inwardly at the sight, watching the shimmering tears drop to the grass below. It was worse than he thought.

Craning his neck higher so to avoid the scene, he commenced. “This meeting will now begin, with or without Rayquaza,” he declared, voice too soft to be his own though he was sure he was speaking his loudest. The crowd turned to acknowledge him, but it was apparent their thoughts remained elsewhere. “He has some... 'business', apparently, to take care of. And I trust everyone else is here that we should not have to take roll call.”

Latios side-glanced nervously before slowly raising a hand. The phoenix tilted his head. “Yes, what is it?”

Biting the inside of his cheek, the Eon dragon carefully responded, tapping his claws together, “Er... actually, Ho-oh, we have not _quite_ the near-perfect attendance. Um, when you went to greet everyone, Shaymin—how to say this—up and left. Without an explanation.”

“She _left_?”

“...Pretty much.”

When Ho-oh let out a long, irritated breath through his nostrils, many swore they saw steam being puffed out or were sizzled from his feathers. He scrunched his eyes shut, brows deeply furrowing. There were murmured concerns moving down the crowd about Shaymin's ditch once they noticed she was absent from her seat. It was the first she had purposefully missed a meeting, reasonless for that matter. She had once said so herself she wouldn't be there only if she was terribly ill, absolutely needed elsewhere, or dead (which had since then ceased the irksome “he died” joke some of them had started). As the Lake Trio were her seating partners, they knew there was a disturbance in her aura before she left, so they cleared it up with the Sky Guardian. He was still upset at her leave, but the reason was at least partially solved.

“Thank you, Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie for speaking up about it,” he sighed, massaging his forehead. “I suppose we can excuse her today. Now, she and I have called together this emergency conference upon hearing of the declaration of a war last month. I'm sure most of you have gotten word of such.”

Slow nods bobbed in an unbalanced wave before he carried on. “Since then, however, more regions have come forth to team up either with or against Orre. There currently have been fifteen battles fought and a total of three-quarters of a million casualties and growing. Among the humans, this has been described as the war of all wars: Armageddon. For Pokémon who are keeping out of it the best they can, unless they are part of the militia, it's called the Omega War or the War of Mankind. But whatever name has been given, it is still a terrible, bloody war that has no end in sight at the moment. Personally, I believe this war ends when the last two living humans fight it out to the death, but that's just me.” Shaking his head about, he returned to the matter at hand, “Whatever the case, everyone is involved, directly or indirectly. Now, I feel there is nothing we can do, but if anyone has any suggestions—”

“Arceus Almighty, look at that meteor shower!” Manaphy abruptly piped up from atop of Kyogre's head, pointing at the sky above them. “It's incredible!”

Everyone bent their heads back to see in amazement a barrage of lights streaking against a gray sky, giving off soft glows of orange. They were numerous with different varieties in size, speed, and illumination. Ho-oh rolled his eyes, barely skimming the skyline. “That's just Rayquaza burning down satellites again,” he grumbled, almost accursedly. “Impressive show he's putting on, but he's interrupting our meeting. As I was saying—”

“No, Ho-oh, those are _actual_ meteorites!” Suicune pointed out, gaping dumbfounded at the sight. “They seem to be increasing!”

“Preposterous, it's the middle of the day!” the phoenix sputtered out, slightly more irritated at the disruption than the event. “A bloody _cloudy_ day for that matter! Rayquaza is out-doing himself again! What more evidence do you need?”

Out of the blue, there came from the heavens the pierce of a horrified, agonized roar. Shivers and gasps spread amongst the Legendaries, all gazes now fixed upon the sky, searching for the source. Latias started to cry. “Where's Rayquaza?” she squealed, shaking her brother's shoulder. “What's happening?”

Deoxys smirked to himself, standing up in his seat. “ _Heh, I bet I can make him show up,_ ” he said determinedly, making his surrounding peers grouch in disgruntlement. Taking a deep breath, he shouted above them, projecting his voice to the atmosphere, “ _Hey, worm-bag! I found your porn collection, the ones you keep denying about! They're going to sleep with the fishes if you don't stop your stupid pyromaniac show!_ ” He looked down at the horrified, rather perplexed stares, a few eyes twitching here and there. He slumped slightly. “ _ **What**_ _, telling a disturbing lie wasn't what you were expecting?_ ”

“Deoxys, what the _hell_ was that for?!” Dialga exclaimed almost in a screeching roar, a poisonous leer in his eyes.

“That's low, Deoxys,” Celebi scolded, shaking his head. “Very low.”

“What do you mean it'll sleep with the fishes?” Kyogre then spoke up, penetrating a deadly glare in his direction. “Sounded like a threat.”

“Are you talking about human porn or Pokémon porn, by the way?” Lugia blurted out his inquiry. Both Articuno, Moltres, and Giratina reached over to smack him upside the head with their wings.

“ _I was just_ _ **joking**_ _, he doesn't have such a thing!_ ” the alien scoffed, dropping his arms. “ _Sheesh, why are you guys taking this so seriously?_ ”

“ _You_ , sir, are being disrespectful and crude, as is typical of you!” Cresselia shouted, getting up from her seat for a better view.

“ _Well, excuse_ _ **me**_ _, Victorian princess, I honestly had_ _ **no idea**_ _that would offend you!_ ” he retorted back.

“ _NO IDEA?!_ That's because you rarely THINK before speaking!”

“ _Does sarcasm mean anything to you?_ ”

“You don't joke around about that!” Before she could shoot forward to start a fight, Darkrai pulled her back and sat her down, Heatran helping out when she struggled. “Let me at him for once! That S.O.B. needs to be taught some proper respect!”

Another roar reverberated from the sky, and they watched in terror as Rayquaza streaked through the sky, sending off blast after blast at the burning rocks. He got low enough that when he sped by, drops of blood rained down heavily upon them.

“RAYQUAZA!” Latias screamed his name.

Either he heard her or his energy was depleted, the bruised and broken dragon spun back around after his last Hyper Beam gave out. He landed profoundly behind Ho-oh, gasping for breath with his head hung. It was an incredible sight to see a powerful creature in defeat. He was bleeding from the mouth and the terrible gaping gashes throughout his serpentine body. The markings were illuminated intensely, but flickered with every sharp inhale. A few fins were torn with one completely gone from the tail's tip. His claws were either damaged or run dull.

The phoenix stumbled off his rock in horror. “Rayquaza! What is going on?”

He shook his head, voice graveled in pain and from his Hyper Beams. “Unbelievable... it's nearly impossible...” He looked up at the bird, and everyone could see (a few of the females screamed, though others grew squeamish) he had only one eye shining from its left socket, the other a giant, hollow black hole with a bloody waterfall pouring from its depths. “Hundreds of meteors, maybe more... coming this way. This part of the sky only that I know of, but... Oh, Arceus, the size of these things! I can't hold them off!”

“Are they not breaking off?”

“No, not one bit... Whatever metals are in the rocks... I can't break through.” Raising his lone ocular at what he could see over the treetops, a painful gasp escaped his throat as he struggled to lift his beaten body off the ground. “They've landed...”

At once, the land beneath them trembled exceedingly, the tremor powerful enough to affect the winged and levitating Legendaries. Trees splintered around them, rocks crumbled to sand, and the water from the lake overflowed and drained into the widening crevices, all just as the quake hit. Manaphy jumped onto the back of Dialga as Kyogre fought to stay afloat and swim into more open water. The Lake Trio used their telekinesis to lift him up until he found his bearings, encouraging the other Psychics to raise those land-bound out of harm's way.

Ho-oh took wing to avoid the splitting earth, spinning around at the Legendaries, eyes blazing in fear and in near anger. “What are you waiting for?!” he shouted in near-hysterics. “Slow down the meteorites! Stop the tidal waves! Get everyone to safety! Do your duty as protectors, NOW!”

Without question, they all herded out swiftly, separating into many different directions for the corners of the world. Even Rayquaza, weak and broken as he was, found the strength to give off a roar and dart away in a flash, leaving blood in his wake. Ho-oh couldn't help staring at the large crimson puddles. There was a cry shimmering in the depths each time the ground quaked, a silent sound he knew too well. When a fault split through one, the dark fluid pooled into the jaws of the earth, provoking its need for more. He fled from the island then, flying fast as he could for his homeland, his heart crying out in bitter misery, fearing for the fate of the world.

...even though it was meant to be.

*~*~*

Latios and Latias exceeded their limit racing across the ocean for their home of Alto Mare, careful not to glimpse up at the blackening sky filling with meteorites. They remained in somber silence to preserve their energy, trying their hardest to block out loud splashes of impacts and the faint trembling of the earth beneath them. Some Water Pokémon were poking their heads out in curiosity, staring up at the endless sea of fiery darts. The waves soon enough grew restless and increasing, and murmurs of concern (though others scoffed saying another storm was just on its way) were quickly outrunning them.

Whimpering quietly, the female dragon mentally sent to her brother, “ _Latios... what's going to happen?_ ”

His eyes narrowed. “ _Don't think about that,_ ” he warned. “ _Right now, focus on making sure Alto Mare will be protected. They're counting on us._ ” The tone of voice was bitter, it was hard for him to say it, let alone admit it.

Fading into view ahead was their home, the protruding buildings of the city visible against the horizon line. With a gesture of the head, Latios increased his speed, melting into a blue streak. Not wanting to be left behind, she mimicked, and the two hurried into the middle of town, dodging buildings and people with ease to reach the hidden gate of their garden. They went from dark to light in seconds, skidding to a stop before the fountain that held the Soul Dew. Its dark azure color was unchanged, a positive sign that made Latias collapse in exhaustion before it, but it worried her sibling. Signaling her to stay put, Latios flew up above the trees for a better view of the city.

As small as it was, it normally was crowded with people walking through the streets or relaxing in gondolas. Ever since the war started, eligible men left to fight against Orre (even then, there were those who refused), so mainly the women and children roamed free. But even the remaining people were as terrible as their enemy. Alto Mare used to be a happy city of peaceful citizens, the population perfect enough with no worry about overcrowding. However, the beauty of it attracted people from around the world, and some of those newcomers were rotten to the core. Their evil habits weren't contained in time to keep from spreading to the young people, who slowly rebelled against the traditions of their parents and inherited the city as such. Those masses then had children who were raised the same way, and sure enough, in just a few generations, the peaceful, beautiful island of Alto Mare became a gruesome addition to the increasingly-wicked world. What hadn't changed were the secret garden and the Soul Dew.

Unable to sense the danger during its developing years, Latios and Latias never saw it coming. They had an inkling when they heard terrible stories and news reports, but never paid much heed to it. By then, it was too late. Before long, they would hear screams, day and night, of women being jumped, the cries of children and Pokémon amongst the firings of gunshots, the mourning of widowed husbands and wives, and the pleas of the murdered. And in the midst of it, the wails of Latias would join in, wanting so desperately to help the citizens she swore to protect. She roamed the streets more often, always taking on different human disguises playing vigilante. What she neglected to do was watch her back, and it nearly cost her everything had she not found the voice to scream for Latios. The gang of thugs were never caught by police, and it was enough to keep her home out of fear. She would only leave the garden when needed elsewhere.

It was a proven fact: the Guardians of Alto Mare failed at keeping their beloved home, their life, from being corrupted. They could only watch from afar as the people forgot them and became selfishly engaged in their own dark deeds. The two shed their share of tears until they dried up, leaving only an aching, bleeding heart to do the rest. They wished they could cry out to the people “Enough!”, and have them cease their iniquities, but they possess no such authority.

Sorrow all but drained from his heart, Latios turned for the surrounding ocean to avoid looking at the city. There were waves building up steadily, crashing against the rocky walls of the island, a hint of a storm on the horizon. He wasn't sure where or how far the rocks were falling (they weren't visible in these skies), so time was precious. Both he and Latias needed to find a way to barricade the city on such short notice.

“Latios!”

The addressed dragon gasped, spotting the faint glimmer of Cresselia's wings as she sped for him. “Cresselia! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be elsewhere?”

“Oh, Latios, it's terrible!” she wailed, pulling up to his side. Tears were splashed on her face, eyes dried from the wind but still welling up. “Rayquaza was right! The meteors _have_ landed!”

“And? How bad is it?”

She shook her head as though trying to rid herself of a memory. “I was flying over too late! They... well, some landed not too far from Pacifidlog Town, a-and caused a... a...” Her voice caught.

“Tsunami?”

“Worse!” came the shriek. “Which doesn't make sense as to what could be worse than a tsunami, but I swear it was like no other tsunami I've ever seen!”

Latios reached out to hold her still, she was unable to stay in place from her hysteria. “Cress, Cress, calm down!”

“No, no, I can't! They were screaming and tried to run! I couldn't save them!”

“Cresselia, what happened?!” he shouted, shaking her into submission.

The swan stared at him in a state of terror, eyes wavering in and out of subconsciousness. She could hardly speak, but when she managed to find her voice, the Eon Legendary had to lean in to hear. “ _They drowned._ ”

“...what?”

“The wave... it was the biggest I've seen. I-It washed over the town—people were screaming when they saw it. It's horrible, those screams... I can never forget.”

“Cresselia, what happened to the town?”

She ducked her head. “It was washed away... I couldn't find it anywhere...”

Latias made herself known reaching out to hug the traumatized female, allowing her to cry on her shoulder. She tearfully glanced over at her brother, sobs escaping from her throat. Latios released her, arms dropping to his sides as he shook his head. He gazed over at the darkening horizon, getting the sinking feeling the storm miles away was an aide to the meteorite crash. Judging by how the waves were getting bigger, more numerous and powerful, they didn't have much time left. Alto Mare would be next.

Whirling around, he shot straight for the fountain. He reached inside and pulled the Soul Dew out with little difficulty, holding it up to the hazing sunlight. From its depths, what couldn't be seen in the water was clearer in the proper light. With widening eyes, the Eon dragon saw the tell-tale sign of impending danger: a large, spreading dark spot.

He had never thought it would happen, not in his lifetime. Alto Mare was doomed to drown, but not in its own water. That would only happen when it is destroyed, something that had happened many centuries ago according to what the family in charge of them said. They had also once mentioned the Soul Dew _may_ contain the soul of a Latios, but it can leave on its own accord, usually to foretell destruction. And before his very eyes, the soul of a previous guardian was departing.

He felt the presence of the two females descend to his side, their gazes locked onto the weakening gem. Latias' breath caught at the sight. “Latios...” she managed to gasp, bringing a hand up to her mouth. “Does this... mean...?”

A slow nod was his response, glancing over at a confused Cresselia. “The Soul Dew is dying,” he explained to her, holding it out for a better look. “When the soul of Latios disappears, the water will return to the ocean. Then, sometime afterwards, Alto Mare is permanently destroyed.”

The moon swan couldn't look away, trembling in place. “So... Alto Mare is doomed, then?”

“It will be if we don't act fast.” Latios returned it back to its rightful place.

There suddenly came the wail of a siren, startling them. Straightaway, a magnified voice split the air. “Evacuate your homes immediately. This is not a drill. A tsunami is headed for land. I repeat, this is not a drill.”

The alarm continued, but the Legendaries were by now hardly paying attention. Shooting upward over the treetops, they stared out at the ocean, looking around all directions for signs of a wave. Latias, when she spotted a rising wave, clung to her brother, a terrified gasp escaping her. They turned to it, and Cresselia kept herself from screaming.

From what the dragons could see, it had to be the biggest wave they had ever seen, and they went through a share of tsunamis (outside of Alto Mare) in their lifetime. Its length, they estimated, had to be almost half the length of the island, the height undetermined at the moment. The speed it was clocked at was unknown, but it was understandable they had little to no time left. Alto Mare, though it had its periodic drills in case of hurricanes, tsunamis and the like, didn't stand a chance against an actual wave. The city had no blockades or any form of protection against natural disasters, at least not after over half the island was drafted. Evacuation transportation wouldn't leave in time, but even if they did, they wouldn't outrun it.

Latios shook his sister and Cresselia out of shock when he cried out boldly, “You two, follow my lead! We're going to stop this wave from reaching shore!”

“How?!” Latias squealed, staring frightfully at the incoming doom. “It's so big!”

“That didn't stop our ancestors. Latias, whether these people deserve it or not, we _have_ to protect them. That's our main role, isn't it? To protect the people.”

“How are we going to do it?” Cresselia gave her question. “That wave is huge!”

A smirk found its way onto the male dragon's lips. “We'll need a wall.”

“Out of _what_ , sand? There's no time to make one!”

“You two are forgetting what type we are,” he continued, “what it is we can do.”

“We just follow your lead, right?” his sibling echoed his previous order.

With a simple nod, Latios tucked his arms in and shot out for the ocean, the two females not far behind. He started to ascend, so when they mimicked, he shook his head. “No, get directly below me and match my speed best you can! Latias, descend several meters! Cresselia, beneath her another several meters! We need to make this as even as possible, or it won't work!”

They obeyed without question, keeping an eye on him for their next command. Upon reaching open water some feet offshore, he immediately curved to the right, a movement they struggled to keep synchronized. Latias mentally sent the moon swan an explanation. “ _He's really good at estimating the length of waves, that's why we're going so far._ ”

At their current speed, it was a short minute before Latios abruptly halted, looking down at them with eyes enshrouded in a white glow. Cresselia tilted her head, unsure what to do next. Because of the height, he telepathically replied to the two. “ _At my command, we soar at the same speed for the other end of the island, about two hundred yards offshore. Try to fly straight the best you can._ ”

“ _Wait, what are we exactly doing?_ ” she inquired in the same manner.

“ _A psychic barrier with a hint of Mirror Coat to it. Yes, yes, the tidal wave isn't like an attack,_ ” he admitted upon spotting the skeptical stare from the swan, “ _but it should help keep it out._ ”

Latias' grin only made things more unbelievable for Cresselia. “ _Logically creative, isn't he?_ ”

 _Bless her little heart, she's so trustworthy._ She had to give credit to Mew and Latios for keeping her hopeful this whole time.

The droning sirens finally faded from their senses, the three concentrated at the approaching wave, counting down the painful seconds. They had to get this correct, the city depended on it. Cresselia quickly prayed in her heart it would work, her shimmering down emitting a soft glow similar to the ones the siblings were giving off. She craned her head directly to the front, taking a deep breath. Now was her chance to redeem herself. Pacifidlog was a third the size of Alto Mare. Even if she had managed to barricade it, it still would have sunk.

This would be her last chance.

“ _NOW!_ ” the order reverberated through their minds, and they shot off like three beams of light.

In their wake, a translucent start of a wall melted and undulated into existence, morphing into one all the way down to the waters and high above Latios. They cut through the air exceeding their limits, fast enough that Cresselia felt energy waves part from her body speeding by, guiding her forward. Deaf from the rush of wind, she was free from the background sounds of the alarm and angry sea rolling beneath—free from her thoughts like they were left behind with her stomach. Exhilaration was her motivation, the desire to save the people from destruction her goal. It was there at the end of the island, waiting for her to congratulate on a job well-done. She was bringing justice to those lost souls, to bring peace to her troubled heart.

No one was going to die this time.

Mentally, Cresselia felt a tug and a quiet “ _Halt!_ ”, to which her body acted on immediately. Gasping in a deep breath, the swan blinked her dry eyes rapidly and shakily turned around to see her contribution. The wall was huge (her first thought), nearly invisible had it not been for the faint white glow, and thus glinted in the sunlight. It was their barrier, Alto Mare's last resort. Plain, but effective... hopefully.

So out of strength she was, Latias had gone behind to lift her up out of the way, taking her to rest on one of the pillars that bordered the city. With an arm around her, the two and Latios anxiously watched the wave sweep for them. Cresselia ducked her head into her friend, scrunching her eyes shut just as it reached the barrier. She heard the splash of water hit surface, and the shrilling squeal of the female dragon, happily jumping in place and pulling her along.

“Cress, Cress, we did it!” she cried out joyfully. “We won!”

She looked up to see the water slide straight off in mid-air, the wet invisible wall gleaming proudly in the sun. Little water had gone over, it dripped down the sides like raindrops. It was a beautiful sight. Cresselia's thoughts jolted when Latias snatched her up into a bear hug, swinging her around while crooning an energetic song. They even reached their arms out for Latios to participate, his sister chanting his name. He either ignored them or wasn't listening, his eyes scanning the horizon suspiciously. It didn't stop his sibling from clutching his elbow and tug.

“Latios, come on, join the party! We saved Alto Mare!”

Rather surprisingly, he slapped her hand away, bringing out a shocked gasp from her. “Sis, quiet!” he hissed, vision unfaltering. “You hear that?”

She blinked, frowning. “What?”

“You hear that?” he repeated, craning his neck. “Something's not right. The sirens haven't stopped.”

Indeed, when the females concentrated on their surroundings, the buzz of the alarms came into focus. Their eyes widened. “He's right,” the swan breathed, feeling cold sweat begin to sting her forehead.

Latias innocently replied, “Maybe they didn't see what we did. Everyone must be in hiding, right?”

Somewhere in the depths of the city, they caught a faint feminine scream of horror. “Oh my God, there it is! It's here!”

Immediately, the Legendaries spun around for the north-western side of the island, and it took all their willpower to keep from screaming like the woman. It was another tidal wave, bigger than the one they barricaded. The speed was incredible, reaching the outskirts within seconds of making its presence known—not even Latios could form a wall at his fastest velocity. And supposedly if he did, the wave would have swallowed him up, and he'd drown. Then everyone else would.

Out of ideas, and too taken aback to retaliate, they watched in awe as it reached shore, sweeping over them silently. Caught in its watery depths, they were tossed violently in tight rolls, smacked around and stung on every inch. Breath nearly knocked out, Latios managed to find the strength to fight against it, trying to dart through the rough, dark currents. Through mercy or by luck, he broke through, coughing up the sea water he had swallowed, vision hazy.

“La—Latias!” he hoarsely called out, squinting to try and see through the watery veil. His inhales were short and jerky. “Latias! Cr—Cresselia!”

“Latios!”

“Cress! Where... where are you?!”

“I—I'm somewhere!”

Cries too feeble to answer back, he blindly, but cautiously flew around, hands waving about. He continuously shook his head to try regaining his sight, picking out blurred colors. In front of him, the swan crashed into him (he saw blue and a hint of pink), squeezing him and sobbing. “Oh, thank Arceus you're alive! Where's Latias?”

“Uh... I, uh...”

“Latios, for Arceus' sake, where's your sister?!”

“...over here!”

She released Latios at once with a wail, shouting out, “Latias! Where are you?!”

“Here! Look here!”

“Directions! Give me directions, I can't see very well!”

“...I'm wet!”

“OH DEAR ARCEUS, SHE'S UNDERWATER!”

Latios shot out an arm before she could dive, deeply breathing. “No... no, she's fine. She's afloat...” He forced himself to tear up, to help clear up his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he glanced down, feverishly searching the waters, trying to pick out red on blue.

Cresselia found her first, zipping by, and sobbing loudly and bawling out her name. He chose to remain in place until his eyesight would return. From below, he heard clearly their tearful voices, happy his sister was still alive and well. Aside from them, he heard nothing else except distant waves. It troubled him, unable to spot any whites, browns, or even grays anywhere beneath or around. His breath quickened, and he rubbed at his eyes, muttering to himself everything was still there.

It wasn't long before he felt the trembling presences of the girls, listening to their labored breathing and sobs. “Y... You okay, brother?”

“Yeah... hold on.” Latios lifted his head, blinked several more times, then stared ahead.

There was nothing but ocean with few scattered rocks. It was a calmer sea, but still it threatened another wave. Clouds nearby were graying, as were the skies. No other sounds reached them, no rustling trees, bustling streets, sirens, or chattering of any kind. It was deathly silent, except for the swift thumps of their hearts and shortness of breath.

Cresselia hiccuped beside him. “Just... just like Pacifidlog...” She hung her head in sorrow.

He couldn't believe it, not with the evidence in front of him. There was no way an entire city could be wiped out by a single wave. It couldn't have swept the whole land away to a new location or underwater. Those buildings were to resist such a disaster, they had strong foundations... and they were gone in an instant.

_Everything and everyone._

It was impossible.

Latias slowly approached, eyes pooling over with large tears. Slowly, he turned to her, teeth clenched. “This can't be,” he whispered harshly. “They could have survived, we knew those buildings well. How is it _possible_?”

She remained silent, dropping her gaze to her hands. Gingerly, she slid them into his own, transferring the object she was holding. Latios' eyes widened, and he lifted it to the hazy sun, clutching it tightly to keep it from slipping. The Soul Dew was still intact from the violent flood, but it was not the gorgeous blue it once was. It had completely blackened, now beginning to disperse and instead leave a clear, empty casing behind.

Arceus had cried out “Enough!” for them.

*~*~*

The Orange Islands were going to be hit hard, this Lugia and the birds knew. As they flew like the dickens for their destination, they were sensing the storms forming in the distance. It frightened them both, remembering how centuries before their actions nearly caused a world-wide destruction. Of course, ever since the legend had come to pass, the old traditions slowly died off. The newer generations began to shun their fathers' beliefs and Shamouti Island became a worldly influence. They still knew about the three islands not far from their home and who presided there, but they would much rather capture them than worship or respect them.

They had not stepped foot on those islands since the people started their greedy explorations. The treasures they were close to finding were hidden away, and the ancient shrine they froze timelessly in place to thaw out when the Shamoutians would return to their old ways of peace and harmony. Their private islands (Zapdos would affectionately and reverently call by name should they ever be mentioned) were eventually converted into separate cities and defiled by human living. Even if they deserted them to live back on the mainland, the Legendary Birds could never roost there again. Humans leave behind in their wake aftermaths: undying presences that forever marked their being there. They never leave once settled.

Remaining high in the air, the four Legendaries watched the horizon for their old homes, keeping quiet to conserve energy. Inward, fear trembled throughout their minds and bodies. What if everything was a false alarm? If so, what would the humans do? Would they start inducing their Pokémon onto to them for capture? Who, if anyone, would care for their sakes and everyone else's? But most importantly, were they prepared to protect the islands? There were many archipelagos and so widespread, they were unsure if they could save each and every one. Some were uninhabited islands, but for all they knew, they could have been settled over the past century or two.

Articuno suddenly began to have one of her breakdowns, decreasing her speed and descending. Zapdos sent a light shock to snap her out of it. “Art, save your energy! Control yourself!”

“I'm trying, Zapdos, but... I-I'm just so scared!” she wailed, tears growing with every sob. “These aren't the people we trust! What's the point?!”

“Ho-oh commanded us to do our duties as guardians and protectors, _duh_!”

“But these are _evil_ people! They don't care what happens!”

Lugia was tempted to smack her, but upon thinking back to Mewtwo's reaction the last time he did, he held himself back. He felt a bit out of place, not being a close sibling to comfort her. He may have been entrusted to keep them out of trouble, but he didn't always spend time with them. So he left it to Moltres to be her sister's keeper.

“Art, Art, listen to me,” she tried coaxing her to look up at her. “Everything's going to be fine. We're just going to be there to check up on everything, and then we'll leave. We're not making you stay there. Okay? Can you calm down, please?”

“B-But...”

“I'm serious, Articuno, we need to be chill about this.” (Lugia again felt more awkward. He always viewed the Ice-elemental bird as the older, mature sibling of the trio.) The fiery fowl released her. “Please, regain your composure and just follow our lead.”

Sniffling, she nodded and they continued on their way, letting the wind dry her tears. The rest of the trip was quiet until they reached the storm's territory. Heavy rains fell, lightning became a huge concern, and the winds were treacherous. They forced themselves to fly lower, almost in sight for others land-bound to see, and let the currents carry them to their destination.

Zapdos looked over at the water dragon in anxiety. “Hey, aren't your wings strong enough to make these speeds?” he shouted against the air current.

“They can, yes, but I swear to you I did not make this.” He averted his eyes to a nearby island. “Not this time, anyway,” he muttered to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing of importance. Just keep your heads up and watch out for—”

“OH DEAR ARCEUS, A TIDAL WAVE!” Articuno shrieked, pointing a talon at a large wave rising for them.

Lugia straightaway roared and blasted a gust of wind with a single flap, blowing it into two separate waves until they collapsed back into the sea. He side-glanced at the frightened Legendary, catching her eye. “You can just fly higher,” he said matter-of-factly. “There's no need to shout it out every time a wave shows up.”

She flustered in embarrassment and mumbled, “Sorry.” Her siblings hid their snickering well.

They continued on, side-stepping the waves when encountered and using stealth to avoid the humans who happened to be boating in open water. It didn't take long before they arrived, gaping at their old home. The islands had been completely transformed into metropolises, mountains cut down to make room even though they were already cramped. But as they watched, hurricane-like winds were tearing apart the buildings and flooding the shorelines. In the surrounding waters, hints of forming whirlpools were noticeable, sucking in anchored boats and anything else floating on the surface. They had yet to be hit by earthquakes or tsunamis, if any were in the vicinity. As troublesome as it looked, the Legendary birds were strangely calm.

Zapdos especially gave a scoff, shrugging. “What was the point in coming?” he questioned. “We know these islands better than anybody! They've been hit harder than what's already hitting them. Ho-oh worried over nothing.”

His supervisor gave him a wary look. “You may know the islands well, but _I_ know these seas well. And what _I'm_ seeing is something to worry about. Mainly those waves. They're just getting bigger and bigger.” He tilted his head to the black sky above. “And this storm? Oh, it's going to get worse.”

“Then... uh...” Moltres tossed her head back to reignite her flaming crown. “Shouldn't we do something, or... get out of here?”

“Yeah, Lug, how do we protect these people?” Articuno interjected. “It looks like everything's under control.”

“They don't have any frigging sandbanks!” he snarled unintentionally, motioning to the disappearing shorelines. “These idiots forgot their barricades!”

Indeed, the Shamoutians had no indication of ever building a well-constructed sandbank around any of their islands. Even if they did, they were either washed away or demolished from the in-coming tides. It was unlikely of them to forget to build up a wall before a large storm.

A thought came to the Freeze Pokémon, and she gave her opinion. “Well... maybe the storm came so suddenly... they didn't have the _time_ to put them up.”

Everyone else quickly agreed, turning to Lugia for his response.

He bobbed his head a little, weighing out the possible answers in his mind. Humans who lived on coasts have always had up a wall of some sort before a large storm, it was instinct, as forgetful as people could be. And the storm _had_ developed so suddenly, it made sense they didn't catch it on their radars (or whatever the heck humans used for weather). He couldn't blame them for that mistake. So reluctantly, he went with her idea, and apologized for snapping at them.

“It's okay, Lugia,” Articuno said with a smile. “You've been underwater for so long, you just forgot about human nature.”

 _Yeah, right,_ he inwardly corrected.

Her brother decided to crack a joke about it. “Well, I figure his brain's been waterlogged so much, he could only think in bubbles.” A crooked grin spread across his beak. “You think that's how Kyogre thinks?”

Lugia would have pounced forward to strangle him had Moltres not let out a frightened scream. Before their very eyes, a voluminous cyclone touched down upon the water's surface, stirring it up to create the appearance of a water spout. Many more came to be as the heart of the storm beat down upon them. Massive winds tossed them about, rendering their wings nearly useless. As the largest, Lugia managed to steady himself first and glide along the wind currents. The others fought against the gusts until they could fully spread out their wings and find balance. The flames on the phoenix were in danger of being extinguished, so the sea guardian formed an air-tight bubble around her, which unintentionally enabled her to fly. Pressured on by Zapdos' complaints, he made them their own separate ghostly globes, excluding himself.

“You _insane_?!” Articuno hollered (even though it wasn't soundproof). “You'll get killed!”

“Oh, please,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. “You can barely hold yourself up in this storm. Who has a better chance on stopping these cyclones from reaching land?”

“Art, you can freeze them!” the lightning bird suggested, giving an awkward thumbs-up (so he attempted with a spiky feather) at a scowling Lugia.

She looked over at their guardian for consultation. “Am I going to freeze myself instead while in this... space?”

“I'm not entirely sure, breathe out a little ice as a test.”

He had made the bubbles _too_ air-tight. Frost was outlining the spherical shape and only dropping the temperature around her. The thunder bird swore. “You jerk-ass! You did that on purpose!” His feathers sparked, only to shock himself. “Oh sweet Arceus, that hurt!”

“I did it for you three,” Lugia stated solemnly. “You guys are my responsibility. I don't want any of you to get hurt.” Zapdos muttered something about him shoving it, but the moaning winds blocked it out.

“What are you going to do?” Moltres inquired worriedly, bringing down her body temperature to control her flames. The heat was too much at the moment.

They could have sworn his smirk was of regret, a small apology to them. He gave his trademark mournful cry, tucked his wings in and torpedoed himself to a higher altitude and further away from the Legendary Birds. In fascination and fear, they watched him spin rapidly into the core of the farthest cyclone. Almost immediately, it stuck in one spot, but continued to rotate. Inside, a bluish light faded into view, growing brighter and forcing them to squint.

Then a haunting guttural roar split the air, and the twister split apart. Gasps jumped from sibling to sibling, eyes widening. None of them could believe it was Lugia, suspended in midair and his vast wings spread apart. It seemed distance rather than power changed his appearance drastically. A rather deathly aura glowed about his sleek body, turning the silver hue into a violet shade, the blue flaps, spikes, and belly black. The feathers, from what they could make out, were bristling. They couldn't see his eyes to know if they had transformed into something terrifying or not, though if they had to venture a guess, they must have to match with his new form. What made it more horrible to look at was the amount of power he was giving off. It was like he unlocked a new potential, or a new side of himself.

He let out another cry deep from his vocal cords, and swiftly swooped his wings forward once. A powerful burst knocked the wind and storm about him—it tore the cyclones to shreds, and brought the waters to dangerously high levels. It moved forward, an invisible force with no way of stopping, no great obstacle to bring it to a halt, it was felt through the bubbles. Through it all, Articuno painfully willed herself to keep from screaming in anguish as the islands broke apart, the Elemental Islands half-drowning in the waves, and glimpses of buildings and vegetation being swept away, all forever burned into memory. Above them, the clouds dissipated, but it was hardly noticeable, not while the destruction came to pass.

Clear as day, the darkened Lugia slowly felt his power fade, his composure coming back together. Once it was certain he was returning to normal, they flew to his side, supporting him until Zapdos led them to what remained of an island. Articuno, through her tears, caught sight of his blank eyes before they refocused along with his regular color.

She grasped onto his neck in an effort to shake him out of it. “Lugia, say something!” she wailed. “Do you know what you have done?!”

A shaky sigh escaped his throat, and his body fell limp despite him being conscious. He only weakly stared ahead at the empty horizon, mind refusing to allow him speech, to acknowledge their presences. It made her yell louder. “For Arceus' sake, Lugia, speak to us! Prove to us it's you and not someone else!”

“Art, he's exhausted,” her sister calmly said, pushing her back. “Let him rest.”

“You saw what happened! That wasn't Lugia!”

“It was him, just... different.”

“NO, IT WASN'T!”

Zapdos smacked her across the face. “Shut the hell up and listen to us, Articuno!” he croaked. She stared at him in astonishment, taking note of his tear-streaked face. “We all saw what happened, but don't blame him for it. He couldn't help it, there honestly wasn't a better way of doing so. Art, look at me,” he barked when she glanced away. “You did the same thing a long time ago. We _both_ did. While we weren't in control at the time, Lugia here knew what he was doing. He's more experienced than us, that's why he's our leader... of sorts. Okay, I don't know the purpose, but that's what he's there for. And now that I think about it, those stupid bubbles or whatever were made to protect us from that. You felt it, right?”

She and Moltres nodded, shivering at the thought. The power behind the wind was incredible, even though they felt only a small amount of it. Realizing what would have happened had they not been protected, Articuno teared up some more. Her brother released her, casting his eyes about the area. There were no signs of rubble of any kind, no bodies to be seen. Shamouti Island had lost a majority of its trees, but the land size was cut by half than it used to be. Their former homes were mainly just protruding rock now. The more he stared at the ground, the more it seemed to gleam at him, to permanently look like ice.

They remained there in silence until Lugia recovered. None of them dared to speak a word on the catastrophe. Their minds and souls had enough torment to last a long time—if they were living that long.

*~*~*

They kept coming with seemingly no end in sight. Rayquaza knew there were billions of asteroids floating around in the solar system and across the universe, but the odds of any of them careening toward Earth was astronomical; the sun had better odds of turning into a black hole. Even then, he did his best to try destroying the space rocks, risking losing his other eye—though mainly his life—in the process. Had Deoxys not been with him, he would have. No matter how hard the two of them tried, their combined attacks could only chip off parts of bigger meteorites (even with Deoxys' increased attack stamina) while the smaller ones broke in half and burned up in the atmosphere.

“ _Rayquaza, we need to retreat!_ ” the alien called out, dodging fiery asteroids to fly up to the dragon. “ _We can't hold them off!_ ”

“No, keep trying! They're crashing throughout Hoenn!” He roared, projecting another beam that sliced through a smaller asteroid to hit a bigger one behind it. It only left a crater. Cursing, he pushed Deoxys out of its way, narrowly avoiding losing a horn.

“ _Damn it, Rayquaza, you're too weak! You keep this up, you'll die!_ ”

“Then I'll die doing my duty as a protector!” he snapped, swinging his tail at one that was half the size of other asteroids. It flew out of sight, but not before knocking another with it. “If it means I'll go blind, you can be my eyes!”

“ _No,_ _ **NO**_ _! Screw it, Cyclops, I'm not doing it_!” He dodged an on-coming speeding rock. “ _We should be down there like everyone else, saving the people!_ ”

Rayquaza smacked one other out of orbit. “We _are_ saving the people, by keeping the meteorites from falling!”

“ _Falling my_ _ **ass**_ _, we're not doing shit about it!_ ”

“ _You're_ not, but _I_ am! Now help out like a good Legendary, or phone home!”

“ _Why don't you go save a damsel? Oh wait, you're a freakin' dragon!_ ”

“You mentioned your ass falling? You don't shut up and help, I'm cutting it off!”

“ _Well, I have an endless supply, so you have a_ _ **long**_ _way to go, big guy,_ ” Deoxys retorted, crossing his arms. He spotted an asteroid coming his way through a double-take, and he blasted it in half with a Hyper Beam from his gem. “ _But it's not like you could, anyway. What, were you planning on biting it off? Cheeky._ ”

Rayquaza whipped his head around and shot his own Hyper Beam in the alien's direction, who quickly side-stepped the attack. “Damn it all, Deoxys, this is not the time nor the place for your lewd jokes!” he roared, his lone ocular blazing a harsh yellow. “If you refuse to help out, then leave! You want to save a human, go ahead! I doubt you'll find a more pleasant place than this!” He obliterated a speeding asteroid before it could disappear into the atmosphere.

“ _Fine! Since you're blowing chunks at me, I'll leave!_ ” He mutated back into his original form, then turned to descend.

“Go ahead, space freak! Why don't you invade while you're at it?”

“ _Go blow smoke rings, you over-grown worm! With gum disease comes cancer!_ ”

“Mutation is bad for your health!”

“ _Piss off, I like to mutate!_ ” The alien indecently raised a finger at him.

Rayquaza chortled in between blasting out his attacks, returning the same gesture. “Oh, goody! Who is cancerous _now_?”

Spouting out more expletives, Deoxys morphed into his speed mode and sped off through the atmosphere, his alien anatomy protecting him from burning up in passing. He reached the troposphere in half-time of the asteroids, skidding to a stop several hundred feet from the ground. His eyes widened at the sight, body melting to normal subconsciously.

“ _Oh, Arceus,_ ” he gasped.

Below him were the ruins of a town, continuously being ripped apart by tremendous quakes and screams of humans lessening by the minute. Faults were wide open and extending, pushing, rocking, and swallowing ground with each groan. Living beings were being buried alive in rubble and in the depths desperately scrambling for safer ground. He watched as a great building crumbled onto several people and Pokémon, muffling and silencing their blood-curdling shrieks of horror. Acting on his own accord, Deoxys shot forward for the remains, digging and pushing through the debris. He was somewhat aware of what he was doing, his mind split on two sides of fleeing the scene and saving the trapped souls. Around him the destruction continued, but he paid no heed. He kept searching like mad, throwing aside brick and concrete shards.

He got further enough he ran into the fresh body of a girl, though the condition made him shrink back. From what was recognizable of the bloody head trauma, and crushed limbs, she was fairly young, possibly not yet a teenager. Dusty red hair was splitting from the ponytails, almost scalped clean off only to hang by threads of skin. She had obviously died very shortly after the building fell, for her eyes were closed, unlike the other person Deoxys found a short distance away. He was killed on impact, eyes wide in silent, final terror and filling up with blood. His bones were completely shattered and pierced through skin. What made the discovery more gruesome was his severed torso. It disturbed him enough to stop him from digging up more corpses, and the alien fled, flying south. He couldn't determine if his spasming was from sorrow or repulsiveness.

Glancing down in mid-flight, he spotted the numerous fault lines and the few fleeing survivors that were native Pokémon. He descended to one of them, a shaken up Zigzagoon who stopped to stare at him. “ _What town was that back there?_ ” he asked after gulping down breaths.

“Oledale! Or what's left of it!” it squeaked, tears in its dark eyes. “You didn't happen to see a little girl there, did you?”

He had seen many young children fruitlessly running around crying for their parents. “ _Which one?_ ”

“I was her Pokémon, she told me to run when the fiery rocks landed and when her parents dragged her away. She's a redhead. See anyone like that?”

Deoxys had to swallow, the image of the dead girl flashing before his eyes. “ _I-I saw her... ponytails, right?_ ”

It nodded vigorously. “Yeah, yeah, that's her! Where is she, is she all right? Did she send you to look for me?”

There then came a sudden tremor, tearing the ground beneath them. The startled Zigzagoon yelped, jumping to the side to avoid the chasm. His footing, however, failed him, and he slipped into the darkness, the earthly jaws sliding into a narrow strip as quickly as it came. Deoxys was too taken aback to give a shout, too slow to grab the creature to pull him to safety. He stepped back, stumbling around the uneven ground and falling to his knees. Right underneath the earth made attempt to devour him as well while his guard was dropped. Overhead, his name was hollered out and a shadow swept over, claws scooping his frozen figure off his feet and carrying him to the sky. Almost immediately, he began to struggle.

“ _Release me, what the hell is wrong with you?!_ ”

“With _me?_ What _the hell_ is wrong with _you?_ ” the voice retorted, shaking him. “Are you insane to stay down there? There's a bloody earthquake tearing the ground apart with you on top of it!”

“ _Rayquaza, I mean it! I have to get down there!”_

The dragon kept a strong hold on him with his strength nearly gone and his body more bruised and broken than before. “There's nothing you can do, it's over with!”

“ _No, NO! There's more down there!_ ”

“You weren't doing a damn thing, I saw what happened! You let that Zigzagoon die!”

Deoxys, pausing in his struggle, fell limp and screamed at the top of his lungs. “ _YES, YES, I LET HIM DIE! BUT I LET THOSE_ _ **OTHER**_ _PEOPLE DIE!_ ”

Rayquaza flinched slightly, slowly releasing his hold, leaving the alien to levitate shakily before him. He was confused, but frightened at his sudden surrender. Deoxys was always one to defend himself, to counteract with nasty names and pick a fight without backing down. Very rarely did he let emotions other than anger take control. He was gone for only five minutes, and yet something had happened that caused him to break. Normally, this would be an astounding victory for the Air Titan had it not been for the obvious destruction keeping them occupied. Seeing his long-time rival as a shivering wreck and waiting for death concerned him.

“Deoxys... did you see something down there?”

The answer was a snort and a shake of the head. “ _Why should you care?_ ”

“Whatever happened down there affects life as we know it. Now for Arceus' sake, what happened?”

“ _Don't be an ass-kisser, you just want to rub it in my face later._ ”

“Don't be a smart-aleck, this is serious!” the dragon shouted. “What did you see, Deoxys?!”

“ _None of your damn business._ ”

Rayquaza smacked him upside the head with his tail, catching his attention. “Deoxys, I swear to Arceus, I will do worse things to you than whatever Hell is throwing at us if you don't answer me!” he growled, his lone eye flashing. “What did you _see?_ ”

Rubbing at his head, but returning the glare, the alien replied harshly, “ _I saw the Grim Reaper down there harvesting more souls than you've ever seen. Hell, I shouldn't even_ _ **call**_ _it the Reaper, whatever it is. Before my eyes, I saw a whole town get demolished by whatever's going on. There were people screaming and pleading for mercy, all while being buried alive. It's no different for the Pokémon, either. There is something non-human going on, Rayquaza. Whatever it is, it's not the humans' fault._ ”

“I'm not accusing humans of doing this, Deoxys.”

“ _Like hell you are!_ ” Deoxys snapped, eyes blazing in anger. “ _That's all this has been the last two months! Screw it, the last_ _ **few**_ _decades! Ho-oh has been talking about it, everyone has! They all say humans will eventually kill themselves off, but no human can do this kind of damage, this kind of carnage, no matter how many wars they fight! I don't care what you think, there is no freakin' way this is the result of mankind. I'll have you know that in my lifetime, I've seen planet civilizations end in a more peaceful manner than this. As far as I know, this is where Hell presides, and it just got its ass kicked._ ”

The two Legendaries sneered at each other, letting the words sink in. It was an uncomfortable feeling, being out-of-tune from the world as its dying cried from below while two immortal beings silently fought, refusing to accept the reality and the opinions of the other. The rivals, as much as their anger overtook them, couldn't find the will to say another word or even throw a punch. Rayquaza slowly turned his back and flew off, disappearing quickly into the distance. Deoxys remained where he was, lowering his gaze to the demolished land that was once Littleroot. It had met the same fate as its neighbor, only its slightly smaller population was eradicated quicker, and seemingly more cleaner. The world, from where he was, was suddenly a lot quieter.

His tormented mind couldn't take it. He willingly allowed his sobs to split the silence.

*~*~*

It wanted out, to cause destruction upon the land. Volcanoes and yawning trenches were their only exits, and not even Heatran nor Groudon could stop them up. Susceptible to the heat, they were mercilessly pushed away by the tremendous force as the blood of the earth rushed forward to take those unfortunate enough to be in the path to their hellish graves. In vain, they built up barriers on the possible routes only to have an earthquake tear them down. They only went underground to travel to other areas, mainly to get to an island, just to arrive too late, or in time to witness living beings burning alive. Luck only gave a few places time to run for it, as the lava flows were creeping across the land, but if that didn't reach them, the earthquakes and ashes did.

Entei, in spite of his speed and liability to reach towns and cities quicker than the others, couldn't handle seeing everything die around him. He did his best, sending Pokémon down escape paths and even nudging a few humans into the same direction. At one point, he even had to carry out a child who had refused to budge, wanting his mother. Both times, it ended with a being's demise in some horrible way or another. Those who fled avoided faults and falling debris until their cockiness killed them off, or they dropped their guard and didn't see the on-coming tree. The boy the beast tried to save would have made it if he didn't try to leap over a river in his way. Had Groudon not fished him out, Entei would have drowned with the youngster.

When he had regained consciousness, he cursed the land titan for saving him instead of the human. “I didn't see a boy with you,” he defended himself, trying hard not to yell. “How was I supposed to know?”

“That's your own damn fault for being so large!” the volcanic dog snapped, glaring daggers. “Your eyes are so small, it's a wonder I'm even making eye-contact!”

“That's coming from a Legendary who constantly cleans his fur every time he eats, it looks like you have a beard,” Groudon retorted back, snorting steam. “Just shut your trap and get back to saving the world.”

“How the hell is _this_ saving the world?!” he challenged, pointing out the mass destruction around them. “The trees are burning up, the ground's breaking apart, the frickin' _sky_ is falling! Every living being is dying, and you're telling me to shut up and get to work?”

“As a matter of fact, I am! It's our duty, right?”

“And how would _you_ know? You've been asleep most of the time, what is there for you to protect? What do they owe you?”

Gritting his teeth, the reptilian titan snarled, “Stop being a prick and help us! Ho-oh commanded us to do this, and I'm going to do it!” Huffing more puffs of smoke, the gargantuan turned around to storm off. “And there's nothing you can do to stop me.”

Entei prepared himself to pounce for an attack only to be taken aback by Heatran crawling out from the ground, shaken up and dripping with lava. “Oh, Arceus, it's like the earth detonated, or something!” he gasped, glancing between the two Legendaries. “What... what are you two arguing over?”

Groudon scoffed and spun back around to point menacingly at the lion-like Legendary. “That jackass there blames me for saving his ass.”

He in turn guffawed, rolling his eyes. “How clever. But you left out the part where I risked my life trying to save a _human boy_.”

Heatran leaned forward. “Where is he?”

“Floating up the river somewhere.”

“YOU HEARTLESS _BASTA—_!”

Popping a four-clawed foot into Entei's face, the Lava Dome Legendary leered up at the titan. “Why must you mock a young child's death? Especially when you know his blood is on your hands.”

Groudon, his pride not letting him admit to his mistake, stammered, “W-Well you're one to talk! What happened to Lavaridge? Did you arrive in time?”

Hanging his head, Heatran released the struggling Legendary Beast, who in turn held back a spitfire of curses to hear his report. “I felt Mount Chimney erupt before I reached Oledale's soil,” he sighed. “Its eruption sparked a severe tremor that hit Lavaridge and surrounding cities and towns within minutes. Even the aftershocks were terrifying.” A shaky breath. “I never stepped foot there. It was already ground zero even before Chimney blew its top.”

“You're wrong!” Entei barked. “I was just there! I was carrying a native boy away from that place before the lava reached the first building!”

“How well did he take it?”

Silence overcame him, his amber eyes darting away with a hint of anger and sadness. He felt it was right to snatch up the child in hopes his life would be spared. He, in the meantime, kept screaming he was a “devil hound” stealing him away. Even with bouts of adrenaline, the struggles proved tiresome, and the kid was winning. It was, technically, his reason for their falling into the river. As remorseful as he felt about it, he secretly felt the boy deserved the blame. There was that possibility he was too far in darkness to care if he lived or died. His screams of help were painful to hear, but he kept spouting out nasty names for Entei. He let the boy drown, one of his newly-added skeletons.

But no one else needed to know that.

Groudon, though he was still furious over the beast's stubbornness, found himself bowing his head in respect. His husky voice grew quiet, almost into wordless growls. “It doesn't matter what happened to that boy, or even that you didn't bother to strive for Lavaridge. There are still people and Pokémon out there in danger. Don't they matter right now?”

Mutely, they agreed. Their job still had yet to be halted or deemed a failure. They had hope the earth and its remaining inhabitants would be spared. Parting ways to return to duty, they prayed they and their fellow Legendaries would be successful. If they win the battle, everything will get better.

In their hearts, however, they knew this was not meant to be. Everyone was to fail. It was living through it they were worried about. Each of them had a similar question they wanted answered:

Were they fated to live, or die with the world?

Upon happening across the boy's body, Entei couldn't help losing his faith.

*~*~*

Oceans heated up from the amount of volcanic activity and landing meteorites, cooking their inhabitants alive and setting sea vessels on fire. Kyogre and Manaphy were protected from the rise in temperature, but they wished they weren't, the young one especially. Before their eyes, they watched their beloved sea creatures, the ones they were to protect, burn from the inside out as their blood boiled, a few even exploding from the pressure. Others were drowning from the rising sea as the cause of melting ice; some were carried away by the enormous waves or sucked into deeper waters by opening faults. Slowly, but steadily, the sea was dying.

The waters weren't meant to disappear, fate wouldn't allow it. Though the ones who gave the oceans life and form were the wicked ones, it suffered. As storms and fire raked through, everything changed one way or another. If life did indeed start in the sea, then life would end in the same way. But Kyogre knew better. There were creatures who weren't meant to adapt to water, and those died off first. Any human or earth-bound Pokémon trapped at sea was doomed to their watery graves, it was inevitable. The sea's inhabitants, in the meantime, while they could take the waves tossing them to and fro, could not survive at depths their bodies couldn't handle or the rise in temperature. Some dared to take refuge on land (as there were few who could) only to end up cornered by tremendous earthquakes. However, there were others who accepted their fate and went quietly without a fight. The ones who watched them go called them crazy, and selfishly tried to save themselves.

They could only go so far by sea.

And only rescue, evacuation, and guardianship could do so much.

Manaphy wailed from his seat on Kyogre's head, body absorbing the raindrops naturally and healing the burn marks. The whale let him cry; he could shed tears forever and not become dehydrated as long as he was in contact with water. While he himself was tempted to weep, his pride wouldn't allow him. (His reputation argued that if anyone, mainly Groudon, saw him cry, he would never let him live it down.) He could, of course, curse Arceus for everything. If he wanted to, right at that moment, he could scream into the sky.

 _Go ahead, let Arceus know how much you hate Him right now,_ his mind persisted. If it had a physical form, it was grinning evilly at him saying so. _Just repeat after me: 'Damn you, Arceus. Damn it all. You lied to us, and now we pay. If you were God like you said you were, you would have prevented this.'_

He could still hear the youngster atop his skull sobbing his heart out. It was enough to get him to fight the enticement. Still, the voice he could swear wasn't of his own chuckled to itself. _Does not matter. He heard it anyway. Shame on you, Kyogre, for thinking about it._

In the warm waters, he shivered before the unfamiliar presence left. As frightening as it was, the titan concurred it was the truth. As a divine being, Arceus knew all. And being connected to Him in some way as a Legendary, Kyogre was in trouble.

Somewhere far off, as he stared at the buoyant, cooling corpses, the Legendary cetacean could hear distant, sinister laughter, a disturbance in the howling wind. “ _I win._ ”

The following silence as the storm passed above them was witness enough Manaphy heard it as well.

*~*~*

Forests everywhere were burning, crumbling. Pokémon screamed out in terror as they packed in herds fleeing from the danger. None, no matter how hard they tried, could escape the earthquakes, massive flames, and falling trees ripping their homes apart. It made this forest in Mount Silver no less different. Celebi and Suicune tried to lead them to safety, only to watch them be swallowed up or crushed, their hope dying with them. A young Larvitar, under the watchful eye of the Forest Guardian, wriggled through the gaps in desperate effort to flee the scene, tears filling its vision. He followed after, trying his hardest to steer him from danger and blasting boughs out of the way. The child hardly acknowledged his help, too frightened and deep in thought to notice. He just ran where his feet would carry him, obeying his mother's command to run and never look back. Hopefully, she wasn't too far behind.

Celebi, in the meantime, wanted to catch him and get him to safety. The smoke and his alertness to the perilous surroundings kept him from shooting forward and scooping the Larvitar into his arms. He was too far behind, and the child wasn't paying attention. Ignoring Suicune's cries that it wasn't worth the trouble, he pushed himself to make it his duty to protect it. While the forests still stand, he's the guardian, and thus every inhabitant's life is in his hands. If one more soul died under his surveillance, he would never live with himself. He'd be begging Arceus to strike him dead for being a failure. And he knew that no matter how many times he'd travel back in time, he could never save them all. That perfectionist mind squirmed, causing him to crash into a tree he missed due to a blind spot.

He hissed a swear, pressing a hand to his bruised eye as he backed away. He resumed chase, letting out a swear at the space between them and the drop up ahead. The youngling was too blind with fright, it was inevitable he wasn't going to make it. Still, he was bound to his calling, and figured if he died saving the young one, then so be it. He decided to speak to him, to encourage the nestling to stay in place so he could catch up, or at least make him change route.

“Child!” he called out. “You are heading for certain death! Change direction now!”

Only one part of his planned worked. The Larvitar did hear him and stopped in his tracks, frantically looking around for the source. Misfortune chose that time to fell a tree, and Celebi only watched in horror as the child was crushed beneath the wood, the shattering of the armor sending shivers throughout his body. He screamed out in frustration and terror, swerving around and finding his way back to Suicune. She had followed him to ensure his safety, startling him out of the air when she jumped over a severed trunk.

“Damn it, Celebi, I _told_ you it wasn't worth it!” she yelled at him, roughly nudging him with her snout. “There's nothing we can do here, we need to leave!”

Shakily, he beat his wings to float, rubbing smudge from his eyes. He took trembling breaths to steady himself. “I know... it's just... I can feel the forest dying.”

“The _earth_ is dying, Celebi,” the Legendary North Wind corrected. “We all can feel it, not just to our assigned duties. Now if we don't hurry, we'll both die here. Help me find Raikou, he ran off somewhere as well.”

“Hey, sis,” he blurted from behind, out of breath.

She smacked him out of fright (but more from habit), barking out curses that made him flinch. “I swear to Arceus, Raikou, you do that again, I'll brutally murder you!” she threatened after the wave of obscenities passed. Then she curtly gestured to a direction and shot off, her brother not far behind.

Celebi did his best not to lose them from sight, but in his weakened state, it was hard to keep up. His vision started to become unfocused and watery, breathing labored, and wings tired from holding his weight up. The heat was also getting to him, drying him out the farther he staggered into the fiery forest. As tree boughs crackled and collapsed around him, he was finding it more and more difficult to side-step. Eventually, his energy depleted, and he crashed face-first into the hot dirt. He mentally screamed at himself for giving up so quickly, and struggled to stand so he could run for it. Above him came the crack of breaking wood, and he ducked his head.

Somewhere ahead, Raikou stopped in his tracks, glancing behind him. “Hey, Suicune! Where's Celebi?”

She skidded to a pause and plodded back to his side, confused. “What? He's behind us, shouldn't he?”

They scanned through the smoke best they could, but couldn't see the pixie or his shadowed figure anywhere. Hissing more nasty swears, Suicune bounded off, her brother at her heels. They gracefully dodged every flame and branch threatening to keep them from finding Celebi. Because the smoke was thick the further in, they almost missed the Legendary lying motionless on the ground underneath a split trunk. They both gasped at the sight, and immediately rushed over.

“Carry him,” she told the lighting tiger just before picking him up with her teeth and dropping him onto his back.

He just frowned, staring at his limp arms. “I don't think he'll stay on very long like that,” he noted.

“Arceus damn it all,” she growled, but snatched Celebi back up and ran off. It took all her will to keep from chomping him in half while they fled through the maze of fire.

Occasionally, they ran into a dead-end, too-large an obstacle, or other Pokémon needing their help. It was painful to pass each of them, knowing their blood was on their paws for acknowledging their existence. These once-strong creatures were helpless in this certain situation. They had tried taking refuge in Mount Silver's cave, up until the entrance caved in, trapping every living thing inside. Raikou was unfortunate enough to witness the tragedy unfold as child and parent were separated or killed together. When the mighty mountain will fall, only time could tell. He secretly hoped they wouldn't see it happen.

Fate was cruel to him and his sibling to torment them as they mistakenly looked back to watch the mountain crumble, and unexpectedly become a new, temporary volcano. The earthquakes had gotten severe enough they carried the magma to the surface, flowing and creating a path to its escape. Suicune secretly cursed Celebi's unconsciousness, for he was lucky enough to not see the entire Silver Valley burn and buried by volcanic ash and rocks.

Both the Legendary Beasts wept until they were chased away by the wind-swept ash and smoke.

*~*~*

Mount Coronet fell in pride, closing up the vortex to Giratina's home world. He couldn't care less at the moment. For now, the remaining cities were in danger once Coronet snatched away Eterna and Hearthome with its rock slides. Celestic Town and Oreburgh were the next closest, but he had the unshakable feeling they were already being destroyed by the earthquakes. There really was little he could do. Either way, what _could_ he really do? A Legendary feared by all, but regarded as just a myth, would only cause more people to flee for their deaths. Fear had a funny way of affecting people as such. Feeble they were to their emotions, they were easily blinded and clouded because of them. So again, he thought, what _was_ the point in it all?

Wasn't he supposed to be the rogue, the menace to society and the world itself? Didn't he revel in misery, agony, and death, even feed off of it? How many souls did he lure into his Distortion World so he could devour them alive? That was the curse Arceus had bestowed upon him when he was banished. He was left to fend for himself, and he chose innocent living beings as his nourishment, a sadistic entertainment in hopes of striking fear in the hearts of many and give him dreams to reflect on. It was enjoyable for a while, at least until he eradicated Team Galactic. After the last member's bones were picked clean and his soul destined for Hell, Giratina found himself unable to sleep for weeks on end, haunted by his past deeds and plagued with endless nightmares. He literally had to beg Darkrai and Cresselia to disband the dreams and ensure him a peaceful rest for up to a few decades. It only lasted five years.

With the belief he was going insane, the demon spent more time out of his dimension in the hopes the spirits trapped there would eventually leave. No, once he stepped foot outside, he was barraged by restless souls he never touched. Since he could see them, they came to him for help or, as time went on, to curse him. They would follow him for miles before new ones took their place—a never-ending cycle. Everywhere he turned, Giratina would see at least one in the streets staring blankly at him, spiritual eyes piercing through him. It was a frightening experience, he secretly admitted, but more-so when the encountered soul was one of wicked intentions. Those ones were nearly unbearable to even glance at. He went crawling back to the Distortion World eventually when he couldn't handle it anymore.

The longer he watched the destruction below, the more the sea of shimmering spirits grew. Some left for the other side, but others lingered, whether by their free will or because they were earth-bound. He could easily point out the good from the bad, had it not been the dark auras quickly over-taking them and shielding away the innocent from his sight. But as evil as they were, they all did the most peculiar thing: they all lifted their eyes to the sky. The dragon was sure they all were watching him, but only a few seemed to notice he was there. He shivered under their stares, but the curious behavior captivated him. Could he talk to them, he'd swoop down to the closest spirit and ask what they were doing and why.

His thoughts were interrupted by Palkia's booming voice as he rushed for his side—literally—pushing him over. He instinctively growled, shoving back. “What the hell is your problem?!” he snapped, baring his teeth.

“Me? What about _you_?” the bipedal gargantuan snorted. “Didn't you hear me? I just said everyone and everything is destroyed, there's nothing left to salvage.”

It was predictable, Giratina knew he didn't have the power of protection for what remained of the south-western part of Sinnoh. If the radiation poisoning didn't kill everyone, the natural disasters must have. With a cold sneer, he retorted back, “And did you do a damn thing about it at all?”

“How could I?!” Palkia spat off to the side. “That bomb did more damage than what Mother Nature is offering, and she's been more merciful! Now how about _you_?” and he gestured with his head at what remained of Mount Coronet. “Did _you_ do a damn thing about it all, now that we're on topic? Or did the bomb save you the energy?”

As tempted as he was to swing his massive tail at his smug expression, Giratina stood his ground. “I lost everything, so you tell me,” he growled, crimson eyes sparking to life.

“Oh, boo-hoo, I did too when Spear Pillar collapsed.” The space dragon's tone of voice sounded very sarcastic, it nearly boiled the rebel's blood. “That was two months ago, but guess what? I got over it. It can be rebuilt, and I'm sure the Distortion World can as well. Now stop your whining and get to work.”

“What work?” came the hiss, causing Palkia to recoil slightly. “We may be Legendaries and working our _asses_ off trying to save everything and everyone, even to the point where we die, but who's going to congratulate us and give us a memorial when we're gone and everything's fine and dandy? Nobody! Don't you see, _Sherlock_ , it's done for! Not even you, Dialga, or Arceus Himself can fix this or prevent it from happening. Once the world forgot us, it destroyed itself, and this is coming from someone who would have destroyed the world had it not been for you bastards sealing me away. Doesn't that raise a red flag to you or something, huh? I saw this coming from miles away, but I did nothing. What could _I_ do except help guide dead people to where they're supposed to go? You can't see what I'm seeing right now, and what I _do_ see is not very pleasant. I'm sure that if you had my eyes, you'd be having a whole different attitude right now.”

“Oh, being all moody and broody about everything?”

Had it not been for Dialga coming into the picture with his own bad news, Giratina would have pounced on the Space Guardian and ripped him to shreds. “Oh, come off it, you two, this is no time to fight,” he intervened, pushing away the renegade with his tail.

“To hell with it, everything's downhill from here!” Giratina roared, his gold-plated head glinting when he whirled around to face the newcomer. “Why should you care?! It's not like Sinnoh is going to implode any further than it already is!”

Chewing his lip, the Time Guardian averted his gaze. “Well... that's the problem...”

Immediately, their faces fell, and the demonic wings wilted. “ _What...?_ ”

“Um... remember those legends about Spear Pillar... that it's the source of Sinnoh's very origin?”

“What about it?” Palkia spoke up worriedly. “Are you saying it's a catalyst as well?”

If Dialga had actual shoulders, he'd be shrugging them. “Well, not really, but... Okay, you know those meteorites? Well, while they're affecting more of Hoenn and parts of Johto, and Kanto is having its own problems, Sinnoh, being so up north as it is, shouldn't be touched by those things.”

“Then what the hell explains the earthquakes?” Giratina huffed, wanting his rival to get on with it.

“It took two months for whatever reason for the full effect, even though I have heard from Uxie the continent _has_ been going through some harsh times.” The ghostly being snorted, rolling his eyes. “Well, ever since Spear Pillar was destroyed, it's been... err...”

Abruptly, the smallest of them roared out a nasty expletive, which in turn brought their attention, then he said, “That explains the fault line running through Sinnoh! It's breaking apart!”

“YOU _SERIOUS_?!” the Renegade Legendary exclaimed, ignorant to Dialga giving him a weird look.

“It's going to separate, maybe even sink into the sea!”

A fierce Aura Sphere was sent blasting into the earth beneath them, startling the others. “ _DAMN IT!_ Dialga, where's the Lake Trio, Cresselia and Darkrai?! Do they know of this?!”

“We do now,” and Azelf made himself known, dragging his siblings behind him with Darkrai not far off.

The Alpha Legendaries gaped at the damage done to them, even though it wasn't as gruesome as Rayquaza's were. The Lake Trio were equally covered in scratches and a few open wounds, though one of Azelf's gems was missing from the tail, resulting in a bleeding hole. Mesprit wasn't hurt like her brothers, but her silent tears and blank stares gave hints of emotional damage. Uxie had a grim cut running down his face that looked to be sloppily healed, and he was missing the end of a tail. Darkrai, in the meantime, looked horrible. His wavy cloud-like hair was matted and uneven, the bangs nearly gone from his face showing he might've gone blind in one eye. The spiked collar of his was in ruin with tips ripped off or cracked, and his cloak torn almost to shreds. His hands were covered in blood, and it was obvious his left arm was broken. With the amount of pain he was in, it was astonishing he could still transport himself around.

Uxie spoke up in their behalf. “We didn't do as well as we hoped. Everything has given up on us.” He tilted his head up at Dialga. “Sinnoh's life has come to an end, and yet we still live. How is that possible?”

The diamond-clad dragon only shook his head. “I'm not sure. We may have suffered mortal damage, but we still stand. It's almost... unnatural.”

“Considering that we're living beings and are connected to our homeland, it's logical we die with it.”

“That's true with the other regions, right?” the phantom inquired, careful not to disturb his injured arm when he grasped it in place.

“It should, anyway.”

Palkia looked around at the horizons, frowning. “Was Cresselia ever with one of you, by any chance?”

“We haven't seen her fly with us since we passed Evergrande,” Azelf thought back, searching as well. “I was too caught up in my duty to even think of it.”

“How about Shaymin? Did you find her?”

They all shook their heads except for Darkrai, whose expression faded into solemnity. He glanced around briefly, his good eye flashing in a pulse-like manner. It made their hearts leap at the sight and from his quiet voice. “I'm sensing some fear not too far off. It must be hers.”

“You sure it's not a human's or regular Pokémon?” Dialga made sure, though he knew it wasn't the case.

“No. The aura's too familiar. It has to be her.”

“Where's it coming from? Lead us there.”

With a quick nod, the phantom swooped to the right, racing for the direction of Solaceon. The others immediately followed suit, swallowing their worry in ready to pass the destruction. Giratina took a swift peek at the souls below, flinching when groups made eye-contact. What if they were to come up to him down there? What goes through the mind of a spirit, if one dared call it a mind? Would any of them recognize him in the meantime and give blame? He didn't know why he, a villainous character himself, was fretting over such a thing. For all he knew, it was the thought of Sinnoh splitting that was making him skittish about it. That could be it.

The group reached ground within minutes, and Darkrai began shuffling through the rubble with his good arm, encouraging the others to do so. They shrank at the sight of bodies and blood, but turned away to resume their searching. Finally, Mesprit gave a cry of success and grief. “Shaymin, oh Shaymin, wake up!”

Everyone dropped what they held and rushed to the fairy's side, gaping at the unconscious hedgehog. Her flowers were completely demolished, there were bald patches on her grassy back, and it was apparent a leg was shattered. She was having respiratory problems from being buried for so long and (Uxie guessed) of a broken rib. The Emotion Legendary shed more tears as she screamed out her name like it would revive her. She only ceased when her brothers yelled in her ear to “snap out of it and get to healing” in which she did so to the best of her current status.

Giratina had been shivering violently the whole time since he landed, trying to keep his focus on the pitiful scene before him. The urges pricking at the back of his mind, however, made him insane enough he spun around to face a small gathering throng of the deceased. They stood yards away, staring into his eyes with a look that froze his senses and held him in place. One of them stepped forward, identifiable as a young girl no younger than eight clothed in white robes much like the others were in, but were too large on her. Her large eyes broke something cold inside of him when they crossed visions. He was sure her body was mangled somewhere beneath debris, so why her spirit had to be free of scars and afflictions of any kind was beyond him. She then spoke in a melancholy, echoing tone:

“ _Why did we have to die? What did we do wrong?_ ”

His peers were taken aback by the sudden show of tears forming, looking around him to see nothing but a city of ruin. Darkrai, however, was focused on the small girl standing at the foot of Giratina, frowning up at him. He forced himself to look away and scoop up the motionless body of Shaymin.

“That's enough, she'll live,” he gruffly told Mesprit. “We need to leave. Someone needs to tell Giratina that.” Having said what was needed, he took off for the south.

Palkia gave the spaced-out Legendary a light smack to the head, though he barely flinched. “Hey, let's go. We'll grieve later.”

“How will we know when the region's... split?” the pink fairy sniffled, clinging to her brothers.

“When you live in one area long enough, it grows within your heart and soul,” her wise sibling muttered, head bowed. “As protectors of Sinnoh, we have a special connection to its life-source. We'll know when it does. We'll be feeling it at roughly the same time.” He let out a sorrowful sigh. “If we could feel the origin collapse, then surely we can feel the end.” Tugging at Mesprit's hand, he led the way with Azelf's permission.

Palkia tried again to get his rival's attention. “Yo, we're leaving. Didn't you hear me?”

Even though he was still at attention with the girl, Giratina managed a nod, finally getting his wings to work. Painfully, he looked away, not bothering to steal a glance at the other Legendaries, and took flight behind the Lake Trio. Steadily, the presences of gazes lessened the further and higher he traveled until it only left a dull pang of guilt in his core. Secretly, he was grateful everyone was keeping to themselves the whole time, so he was left to his own thoughts. The time spent was in vain struggles to get the words out of memory so he could focus on everything else.

It was around the moment they flew into Hoenn territory that one by one, each Sinnoh Legendary paused in mid-flight, contracting a terrible wave of nausea when their hearts felt like they burst. Mesprit quaked with tears and had to be supported by her siblings, falling limp in their arms. Shaymin, who had awakened sometime ago and was struggling against Darkrai's hold and crying for release, grew silent, bowing her head. Being the most cold-hearted of them all, as a part of his soul died with his homeland, even Giratina found himself choking back a sob.

 _Indeed,_ his mind reluctantly agreed, _what_ _ **did**_ _we do wrong?_

*~*~*

Hatred destroyed the many cities Mewtwo visited. However, not even _that_ could cause buildings to crumble to dust in mere seconds. It made people scream in agonized rage, but never in agonized horror. It murdered people in numerous ways, yet the way these people died, not even scheming killers could brew them up. There was no hope for them; the earth swallowed them up by the dozens with each tremor, buildings buried them deep in rubble, others were merely trampled on by the fleeing crowds.

The clone teleported from city to city in an effort to save the citizens from their impending doom, only to arrive too late. Destruction reigned as panic and death spread like a plague. Screams filled the air, crying out to the heavens for mercy just to be silenced by falling construction and consumption of the ground. Cities and towns that lived by the sea or a volcano suffered even worse fates. Shore-bound metropolises broke off with the cliffs, plunging its screaming inhabitants into the deep. Others below sea level were swept away without a trace. Those unfortunate enough to be built near volcanoes were burned down by the expelling lava, or suffocated by the ash heavily raining down on them. They were all gruesome deaths. And after all the many times of witnessing bloody battles and individuals killing each other off, Mewtwo still couldn't bear the sight of such massacres, even surveying helplessly from afar.

After each failed attempt to save a person or city or town, his willingness to rescue them slowly gave out. When he reached Viridian City, the one place he vowed to never set foot in again, he chose to inertly watch it burn and fall to its knees in the quakes. He grew used to the screams, only flinching whenever he heard the short-lived, but unforgettable shriek of a child. It was cold-hearted to allow it to happen, he was aware of it. Nevertheless, he felt the city had to be destroyed, it had it coming. The terrible influences Team Rocket and other secret combinations left behind degraded a beautiful city to violent trash: a dark shadow of its former self. Mewtwo heard awful stories of what was happening, mainly of what the public media was hiding backstage. Viridian had to be one of the most disgusting places on the planet. As much as it looked lovely on the outside, it concealed more evil secrets than even Celadon or Goldenrod could. Pallet Town, had it not been caught downwind of the spreading wickedness, would have disowned the city as a neighbor.

The longer Mewtwo remained in place, the harder it was to tear his eyes from the devastation. It was wrong to say they deserved it; no one deserves to die horrible deaths, not even his mortal enemies. But the sight of this large city falling to ruins was too incredible not to watch. Never did he believe it would end like this, and he always knew Viridian was to be wiped out. It happened slowly and painfully, the fires taking their time to burn everything and everyone to stubble, the earth tormenting them with numerous earthquakes, and opening up where they least expected it. It was something out of a movie (and there were many that dealt with worldly destruction), but more of a documentary. They weren't acting, no special effects were being used to make the ground undulate and knock people off their feet, nor were there exploding buildings.

This was real. Movies could never capture the true emotions running through the citizens' faces, could never perfectly record and imitate the screams from a soul. Actors, as hard as they would try, would not come even close.

Real, normal people ran and pleaded for mercy deep in the city below. Real, normal people _died_ in the fires and debris.

There came a long, horrified feminine scream of a name, drowning out the other screams and grabbing Mewtwo's attention. It was from the heart, the mourn of a loved one: a husband, boyfriend, or brother. The way it sounded and echoed, the named man was killed suddenly. He didn't wish to check it out even though this lone person was now of his own thoughts. From what he could hear of her continuing wails, she was an innocent victim, a good person. She was different from the surrounding wicked beings. Even though he or she could still mourn the loss of a loved one, the heart would not project out a pulse of energy like this human's did. He felt in that one word her love for him, the fear of forever losing him in the afterlife... the break of a bond.

Then, like the crack of a whip, her cries ended abruptly. Others filled its place, but hers never resounded. The pulse dissolved, and his senses returned. He didn't have to fly down there to know what had happened. How she died, he didn't wish to know.

Mewtwo found himself shivering where he hovered, a good reason for him to turn his back on the city. The screams didn't bother him now, not while they were forever engraved in his memories.

It seemed right that no one deserved death of any kind. But the decision was final.

Viridian was left to die.

*~*~*

The Tree was dying, despite it being the life of the world. The rebellion happening throughout the land was killing it, forcing it to drastically begin absorbing away the auras of others. Its inhabitants, usually immune to its feeding, felt the drainage hitting them hard, and were slowly tasting death. Tell-tale bloody glows from the crystals signified a malfunction in the Tree, but many were more concerned about their life than their home.

Inside the Heart, Mew was trying her very hardest to stabilize it—if she managed to even _touch_ the crystals. It made little sense why it was refusing to heal, she had gotten there before the power surge went off the charts. It was like her interference was making it worse, even though lack of aura caused it to go haywire. As far as she knew, the planet-wide destruction was abruptly ending too many lives for the Tree to replenish itself. It had no choice but to use a back-up source.

Being immortal, Mew was untouched from the life-sucking veins deep in the earth. Her neighbors, on the other hand, were starting to drop dead, living sacrifices to the greed that belonged to the Tree of Beginning. As powerful as she was, there wasn't a chance she would take back control and restore everything to normal. Once the Tree went berserk, it dictated itself. She was left with no other options but to try and destroy it, even if it meant destroying the world. Unfortunately, to kill the Heart, she needed to take control of the main crystal and throw it into reverse, thus spitting out its life-source of aura. And the Tree wasn't allowing her.

“Damn it!” she swore when the crystal backfired the umpteenth time, propelling her to the ground. Covered in burns, she picked herself up, wincing at the stings. She glared directly at it, eyes long adjusted to the crimson light it emitted. “It's too out of control to respond to my aura.”

Glancing at a nearby shard, she locked on to the old pair of gloves that remained in their place since the last time the Tree needed to heal. Its living sacrifices were still embroidered into a cracked crystallized wall nearby, scars she had nearly forgotten about until now. Like a fever, the dying Tree was giving off intense amounts of heat from underneath the earth's surface. It wouldn't be long before the Heart melts or breaks, carrying the two imprisoned souls with it.

She wasn't close to the other side as Darkrai and Giratina, but she could feel presences of spirits from time to time. There were few deaths in the Tree alone, so these two were especially felt, mainly in the room where they died for the sake of the world. Left undisturbed for many centuries—about a whole millennium for Sir Aaron—in the belief their bodies were frozen in time, Mew was upset when the walls had begun cracking, afraid it would split them apart like a puzzle. The gloves that belonged to the man were left untouched for their memory, the sacred monument she forbade others to disturb. As much as she didn't want to, the lingering spirits were pressurizing her to pick them up. It would allow her immortality to open up and use her aura to heal the Tree.

Hesitantly, she inched for the gloves, reverently scooping them into her tiny paws. Thoughts of concern about size differences clouded her mind until the demands telling her to put them on pushed them out. She obeyed, and an ancient power began snaking through her veins. Taking a deep breath, Mew flew back to the main crystal hands held out, concentrating on discharging her aura. Almost immediately, her arms shook, and the gloves started to glow a blue-green in the jewel.

“Yes, yes!” she breathed excitedly, tears welling up in her eyes. _It's working!_

Her expectations, however, were too great. Even though the power blasted out as a translucent bubble, expanding the more her aura collected, when it covered the crystals and the beam of light, the rejection resorted into a reversal. The force of the aura being quickly sucked back into her body shoved a breathless Mew into the wall right onto the cracks, the impact shattering the crystals and cutting open her back, the shards embedding into the wounds. She landed on her stomach, shivering from her affliction and helplessly watching the entire wall disintegrate to ash before her eyes. When it came to the destruction of the heroes' graves, she turned away, pressing her forehead to the hot, glassy floor. The presences of their spirits were immediately gone when the wall was demolished, which developed an icy sickness to spread throughout her heart. As much as the Legendary wanted to remain on the ground to mourn for the loss, the intense heat caused her to shoot up away from it before it disposed itself.

Gasping, Mew looked around the room. Her eyes widened when she saw the scattered destruction inch for the crystals, the beginning of the Tree's death. There was no other resort left she could use to save it now, not when it was futile.

She needed to escape while she could.

Flying out of the chamber without a backward glance, the feline entered into dangerous territory. With the Heart slowly being killed, the Tree was scheduled to collapse. Time was running out. All around her, crystal spires fell to ruin, and from the distance, Pokémon gave off their last feeble cries. An earthquake then occurred while she was in a tunnel, causing a cave-in. Mew swerved for another entrance to avoid it, but her tail got caught in the rock slide with a crunch. The crash leaving her breathless, she looked up in time to see one of the white blood cells in the form of a Lileep round the corner, charging for her. She screamed when it snatched her with its tentacles, attempting to swallow her at the risk of tearing off her crushed tail.

She was half-way in when it suddenly exploded, its gelatinous remains absorbing into the ground. Gasping for breath, Mew glanced up to see Jirachi levitating above her, eyes illuminating a pleasant blue. “Jirachi!” she sobbed, reaching up for him. “Oh, thank Arceus you're here!”

“Mew, what was that thing?” he asked, descending to grasp her out-stretched paw. “What happened, you okay?”

She shook her head. “I think my tail's broken.” She glanced back at her trapped appendage. “The Tree's falling apart, I can't do a thing. I tried to fix it, but it got way out of control. A-And normally its immune system doesn't attack Pokémon.”

“Can you Teleport out?”

“The Tree won't let me, not while it's feeding.”

The Wish Maker turned his attention to the mound of rocks, the blue veil over his oculars glowing more brilliantly. “Duck and cover,” he warned, pressing an arm to his chest.

Mew did as she was told, and Jirachi swung the limb around. Within seconds, the pile detonated, leaving behind rubble. Floating forward, he placed his hands at the back of her neck, and slid them down to the bulge of her tail. “Healing Wish,” he whispered, and her body glowed a soft silver.

The small feline gave a faint whimper from the shards removing themselves from her skin, burns cooling as they vanished, shattered bones setting themselves back in place and reshaping the appendage to normal. When the healing process was completed, the glow faded. Pleased with his work, Jirachi picked her up, and dusted her off. “Lead the way.”

Giving him a quick hug, she took his hand and they flew down the tunnel. She luckily found a shortcut the moment they spotted another cell (this time a Kabutops) speeding for them, and the star-shaped Legendary was pushed through it before she entered. It was a vein inside an actual tree, the orbs floating upward the same crimson red as everything else. They used them as a fast get-away until Mew spotted an exit and led an awed Jirachi out into the open. The two fled for the clearing ahead of them, gaping at the wastelands beneath them.

“There was a beautiful forest here,” she sadly said, recalling the times she would sit on a cliff and gaze out at the prospering green. “Being so close to the Tree of Beginning, it flourished like no other forest.” When they were out far enough, she then paused in mid-flight, whirling around to face her last home, her companion mimicking.

It was an unbelievable sight compared to what was happening inside. The Tree was a rock formation covered in real, living trees. At night, if it was healthy enough, one would see the glow from the crystals, giving it the color of leaves even from afar. But as they watched, only Mew knew the actual difference between then and now. The grayed Tree looked diseased letting off a bloody light, slowly dimming as the crystals inside dissolved one by one. The damage done by severe earthquakes had caused the rock to crumble and disfigure, leaving bare spots in one area, but a complete platform on the other. The elevation had been dramatically cut as a result, and it continued to decline as little by little it steadily fell. They couldn't hear from where they were, but the guardian knew its inhabitants were crying for help. Dark clouds coming from the Tree were the fleeing Pokémon who were blessed to fly. The falling souls that had grown too weak from their home's gorging looked like rain.

Jirachi, as confused and frightened as he was, couldn't take his watery eyes off the scene. “Mew...” His voice caught, and he had to swallow a few times to continue. “Mew, is this what the end of the world looks like?”

Her head solemnly bowed at the question. She wouldn't say the answer even if she wanted to. Their tears were enough.

*~*~*

Ho-oh let the wind carry him throughout the world, to mournfully survey the destruction. It was as he feared and envisioned would happen. Despite people saying the world would burn with hellfire, they weren't even close. Yes, some cities and lands did burn, but it wasn't from Hell that he knew of. The fires were caused either by lightning, lava flows, or the fall of buildings. With the exception of the buildings, which were man-made, everything was of nature's own doing. Hell had no control over nature, it never did. Neither did they.

Had the controls been given to them, they could have prevented this. Ho-oh could have saved Ecruteak from burning. Alas, it was not so. It was as though the city was _destined_ to go down in flames. Did a prophet foretell its damned destruction, or a gypsy jinxed it for her mistreatment? Did he and Lugia, by some sheer chance, leave a curse, a sign to the people when the first Tin Tower burned? What had the people done to deserve it?

...he knew the answer. They were idolatrous, more than any other city in Johto, but just as idolatrous as those in Sinnoh. They worshiped him and Lugia before they switched to another idol, and eventually to another. As much as he enjoyed the attention, Ho-oh knew it was wrong. Even after it plagued his heart and thoughts and got him to believe he was a god, he still knew. Arceus may have created him, gave him a special role in life, made him _immortal_ , but he was not even close to a god. Creating Suicune, Entei, and Raikou didn't give him that authority, it never did. The three may look to him as such, but he still wasn't. He had been meaning to tell them the truth, to right the wrong. Why did he have to procrastinate?

Because they looked up to him.

And the people _feared_ him.

It made him realize too little too late that he was the one responsible for the burning of Ecruteak. He could have been the savior, but he was the destroyer for refusing to give up his title as a god. When they forgot him and went to someone else, he made the mistake of thinking everything was fine and dandy because he wasn't involved in their lives anymore. No, their new gods were even lower on the totem pole, and that made things worse.

He came to that conclusion when he arrived to see a microburst develop over the city. Strong winds began blowing off the rooftops, the heavy downpour caused a flash flood, and lightning struck every few seconds. A few powerful tornadoes had even swept through at different times, up until the Tin Tower caught on fire from the storm. Then the earthquakes hit. Ho-oh had watched the tower fall over the city, the flames spreading everywhere. People unlucky enough to be caught outside were set aflame if they weren't carried by the twisters or washed away. To put some out of their mercy, the ground would split and swallow them up as though sending them down to Hell itself. Others decided to jump into the waters only to drown. The horrified screams and pleading cries from the citizens, young and old, were enough to tell the phoenix Ecruteak was doomed from the start, that he was not meant to be there. So with a painful heart, he left it to die.

Just like he left everything else to die.

He chose to circle the globe and watch the horrific events take place, knowing he wouldn't perish, and neither would the other Legendaries. Unless the world imploded beneath them, they could survive for years on end without the necessities. Food and water would be an option; they'd feel the need, but they'd live. It was a wonder he pondered over the past two months as to why Mew refused to eat. For all he knew, she always did, making it more of a habit than a necessity. His understanding of immortality was not having the need for the necessities, but the desire was an option. She wouldn't die from lack of food, but her desire to _not_ eat wasn't what was killing her either. No, there was something else affecting her will to live. Stress? Anxiety? The world's impact?

Ho-oh paused in mid-air, staring down at the wastelands underneath of what he believed to be Orre—or what was left of it. It had always been a desert wasteland, but when the war happened and all the regions went to battle on the land, everything was demolished. Deserts didn't look like deserts anymore, not after all the bombs, radiation, and carnage. It was more or less that of a graveyard lacking the tombstones, the dark side of the moon... the ugly side of man. The few cities and towns were more than likely wiped off the face of the earth. It was strange how the destruction of Earth was hardly affecting what had happened here. Believable or not, Orre did the dirty work on themselves.

“So... this is the region who bombed us.”

The phoenix didn't have to crane his neck to look at Uxie. He figured by the sound of his voice, he was feeling regretful. Head bowed as he pitifully gazed down with his mind's eye at the remaining land of Orre, the fairy's tail flicked.

“What was I thinking giving humans their intelligence,” he quietly spoke, “when it was obvious they would use that knowledge to expand their weapons and wicked ways? How was I supposed to know they'd build killing machines to infiltrate and take land? Or that they would make harmful drugs and man-made diseases when they are able to create medicine for sicknesses? Science was never meant to take over man, but they abused it for selfish purposes, even just to rule over them. What was meant to be good has led these people to do evil and their self-destruction. Dear Arceus, what _was_ I thinking...”

Ho-oh nodded slowly, turning around to face the crowd of Legendaries behind him, psychics holding those earthbound or weakened with their powers. They were all exhausted, some covered in agonizing injuries while others held a traumatizing look of sadness and fear. The feeling of failure hovered around them, pressing down on the guardians with a sense of guilt. All of them knew they could have done better, could have actually prevented such a terrible tragedy from happening. Not one of them needed to speak (if they had the will to) for the Sky Guardian to know the final outcome.

They have failed.


	5. Chance of Redemption

_“Adam fell that men might be...”_

_\-- 2 Nephi 2:25_

 

*~*~*

It was quiet. That was the first thing they all noticed when everything subsided at long last. The morning sun shed gray rays of light across the dark land when it slowly rose as though afraid to gaze down at the damage. No songs of greeting sounded in the desolation, no rustling of wildlife. Cities and towns didn't begin to bustle and buzz with human speech, no child ran outside with shrieks of delight. There came no breeze as if it knew there were hardly any surviving trees to pick it up. Gurgling streams were stopped, and the oceans were still. The clouds remained true to their schedules, floating by without a care and innocently white. And in some parts of the world, a light rain fell.

Other than that, the world was empty.

Billions upon billions of creatures great and small had roamed, lived, and walked upon the earth. Now, only thirty-three remained to wander the planet aimlessly, having survived the nightmare they wished was as such: a terrible dream.

The whole face of the land was changed, continents were morphed into different shapes or split into two. Islands disappeared or came to existence by fire. Seas filled gaps and were drained to make room for land. Mountains had fallen and new ones rose to take their place. Valleys were collapsed and others carved out. Forests were demolished, yet there were still trees that were spared to carry on the legacy. Scattered throughout the world were ruins of marvelous cities and artifacts, remnants of a previous life.

The Legendaries, tired, cold, and ill from the events of yesterday, spread out to the corners of the earth, trying to pinpoint locations they knew by heart and searching for survivors. No word was spoken between any two of them, they all kept to themselves as they ventured off individually. Many started for their homelands, others chose to drift around without a real purpose other than to see the damage.

Such was the act of Celebi, who weakly fluttered about for a patch of green in the world of monochrome, briefly reviving places he felt needed a second chance. Groudon trudged around, unable to admire the expansion of land like he would have centuries past. The only changes he made were filling in deep fissures and leveling out ground where he walked. Suicune and her siblings, too exhausted to run, gaited along without a thought, burying corpses if they came across any, and occasionally cleaning the water. Darkrai and Giratina brooded in silence, staring at the crowds of spirits about them. While a majority kept their distance, a brave few approached for answers, getting the silent treatment in return. Mew returned to where the Tree of Beginning once stood, finding no evidence it was ever there. Her clone arrived at Mount Quena, only to discover it had caved in, the underground lake and its inhabitants buried deep below. Latios and Latias scrutinized the waters for their beloved home, the dead Soul Dew still in their possession as a last reminder of what they had done. The Legendary Birds soared over the Johto and Kanto continents, mourning at the destruction below; the Lake Trio looked over their own continent homeland for the same reason.

Ho-oh remained in Orre, staring at the never-ending spread of bodies and gray. He had refused to budge from his perch since his brethren and sisters gathered around with the horrible news. They had rested on the cursed wasteland until the tempest blew over and everyone had their strength back. Mesprit and Jirachi did their best to heal wounds and broken bones while they waited it out, but they were unable to restore Rayquaza's eye, Uxie's severed tail, Azelf's gem, and a few others.

(Regirock, being composed of all rock, was perfectly capable of reconstructing himself with boulders and other rocks, but he needed the extra help, having lost all his limbs in a terrible landslide according to his brothers. “And he's just so damn picky about what kinds of rocks he wants!” Regice had complained when everyone went to gather the needed parts. “They have to be 'precise' or he won't 'function properly', so he says.”)

Through it all, his heart bled and died with the world until the last mortal heartbeat faded away. He had stopped caring by then, unable to cry or grieve for the doomed souls. While everyone else huddled in a group, he tore himself away to be alone.

As the lonely hours painfully ticked by, Ho-oh found himself angry. He was mad at the world for killing its inhabitants when there were still good people left. What had they done to deserve such punishment meant for the wicked? Why weren't the good and righteous swept away into the heavens before the destruction came? It was what they talked about what would happen at the end of the world. How could they be deceived to believe such ideologies written out as a promise? He himself believed those things after listening in on prayers to an unseen being, he looked forward to seeing it come to pass. Whose sick idea of a joke was it to put false hope in those people?

His venomous thoughts expanded, cursing everything and anything he could think of. He was mad at the thought that Earth continued to rotate a full day like nothing happened. Along with it, he cursed the sun for daring to show its face, cursed the moon and stars for watching their neighbor's destruction—may they die horrible deaths. Then he grew upset at the Legendaries for failing in their Arceus-given duties to prevent such a disaster. They all had that potential, but became greedy about their powers. If they ever _did_ the job correctly, it was for their own benefit, to get the lesser to respect them. Oh, they got their respect, all right...

Lastly, Ho-oh was angry at himself. Why, he couldn't figure it out. He was too distracted blaming everything else to bother searching for the answer as to why he would hate himself. Not like it mattered, they all had part of the blame. Wasn't that thoughtful enough?

Not far from where he sat, the Legendaries banded together to report their searches, leaving the phoenix to sulk for the moment. After everyone was accounted for, Shaymin in her Sky Forme gave her gathered information. “I may have only walked about the eastern... half of Sinnoh, but I found no signs of life anywhere, and I couldn't even feel a pulse in the air except for whoever was searching on the continent at the same time. All the buildings have been destroyed, and it's possible Sunyshore City fell into the sea from the earthquakes. Much like any other... cities on the coast.” She thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. “Did... anyone find something we should know about?”

Silence reigned for a long moment while everyone debated with themselves whether to answer or not. Entei, after shifting his eyes about, spoke up. “Well... we buried a lot of the dead... but only a small portion... um...” His voice trailed off, shrinking in slight discomfort as he nervously looked at his sister. Suicune was too upset to shoot him a wary glance.

Shaymin didn't know how to respond. “Uh... okay, so you started bringing souls to rest. That's a start. That should be our main duty at the time being. Erm, anyone else?”

Latias then hesitantly came forward, holding out the empty orb. “This is what's left of the Soul Dew from Alto Mare,” she whispered, not meeting the terrier's eyes. “The city drowned, just not in its water.” Slowly, she set it down and backed into her brother's hold.

Lugia followed suit. “Speaking of jewels... I managed to recover the treasures of Fire, Ice, and Lightning Islands from the sea.” Side-glancing at the Legendary Birds, he placed the three spheres beside the Soul Dew. “The shrine connected to them has been washed away with Shamouti Island in the storm. I couldn't find it anywhere near the area. It's probably in pieces from being frozen for so long.”

Shaymin sadly nodded. “It's possible.”

When he returned into the crowd, the three Regis stepped forth, Regirock and Regice curving to their steely brother to answer for them. He piled by the orbs broken slates of what appeared to be ancient writing engraved on the surfaces. “That's what's left of our chambers,” Registeel explained in his characteristic monotone. “Not like we cared, but I guess it's just to show you how old it is.” Throwing his arms up in his version of a shrug, they stepped back.

Mew hesitantly took her turn, holding out a pair of shredded cloths with an opaque stone delicately sitting atop of them. “These were once gloves used by Sir Aaron in the Tree of Beginning about a millennium ago,” she stated solemnly in his memory. “The Tree is no longer standing, it has completely vanished without a trace after its destruction. Even the crystals in the area are gone.” She laid them down before meeting Shaymin's gaze.

The Gratitude Legendary had a question. “If I understand correctly, the Tree of Beginning was the source of all life, wasn't it? Aren't _all_ living beings connected to it in some way?”

“I suppose. I was unaffected by it because I was its guardian. Though strangely enough, when it went berserk, it tried to rid itself of me.” The small feline hung her head. “It must have thought of me as an intruder... unless the gloves still had some human aura left in it.”

“Human aura? These gloves might have actually stored some in them?”

Mew gave a nod. “Probably as an activator. But I have a feeling some of it got absorbed into me when the Tree rejected my aura.”

Deoxys immediately raised a hand to call attention to himself. “ _So, wait, if living beings are kept alive by the Tree, then how are_ _ **we**_ _still alive?_ ” he wondered suspiciously, crossing his arms.

“It's because we're immortal beings,” Ho-oh finally responded, not bothering to turn around. “Our bodies don't physically age. While we still have an aura about ourselves, it stays constant. We don't lose or gain a life-source. I don't doubt some mortals have managed to control it, but many of them have unstable lifespans. Their bodies don't know when to die because it's been tampered with so much.” He craned his neck for a glance. For a moment, his eyes looked dry and blood-shot until a dark shadow fell over him, and his tone of voice changed. “It's a foolish thing to mess with life. No one gives a damn if you find the Fountain of Youth, for by that time, everyone you know have already died from natural causes, a disease you're immune to. Then you wonder why the hell you sought after it, and you spend eternity hating yourself for it. Regret has a funny way of rubbing it in your face when it gets the chance.” He snorted. “Life really _is_ a bitch.”

A somber silence descended upon the Legendaries when he turned his attention back to the gray background. They dwelt on the thought like it was meant for them, a sense of depression developing slowly in their hearts. Many shivered, and tried to think about something else (Rayquaza mumbled about his “happy place”). Shaymin, once she broke free of the dark spell, asked loud as she dared “Does anyone else have anything to tell us?”, wincing at the small echo.

When it seemed no one else would speak up, Mewtwo stepped into view, a hand loosely clenched at his side. Mew put a couple feet's distance between them, keeping her eyes on the small pile. “ _I may have something._ ”

The terrier managed a small smile. “Lay it out, then. Good or bad, we'll take it.”

He raised a brow at the comment. “ _You may be familiar with the elusive Mount Quena that was located in the middle of Johto._ ”

“'Was', Mewtwo?”

“ _It had leveled sometime ago, possibly from an earthquake. It was home to many strong Bug Pokémon, and the mystical Clarity Lake. Nothing is left of it now, everything and everyone was crushed underneath the rocks._ ” From the side, Mew held back a choked sob, eyes welling up. She darted her vision to him before averting to the landscape. The clone resumed, ignoring her. “ _However, I did manage to collect this._ ”

The statement caught everyone's attention, even Ho-oh's head was turned. Here, he held up a small corked vial filled with pure liquid. (“Where'd you get that?” Raikou stupidly blurted out from behind.) “ _This is all that remains of Clarity Lake._ ”

Shaymin's eyes widened, leaning closer for a better look. “Oh, my Arceus,” she breathed, slowly shaking her head. “Y-You mean that is _really_ it?”

Mewtwo gravely nodded. “ _I salvaged a sample before it all drained away into the earth's depths._ ”

A few Legendaries jumped back when the phoenix flapped up to the psycat's side, staring incredulously at the bottle. “Drained into the earth?” he repeated. “Then... will it heal the planet?”

A rare shrug of his shoulders. “ _As far as I know, it only heals biological creatures, but the vegetation growing around the lake was very prosperous and blooming healthily. Mew here was healed ingesting only a few berries._ ” At the mention of her name, Mew tensed up.

“Are there any of those berries left?”

Mewtwo felt pressured, but answered the question. “ _As I have mentioned, everything is destroyed. I searched through the rubble myself. If I had found any berries, they are nothing but mush and spoiled from the dirt._ ”

Ho-oh's face then fell, his crown drooping. “Well... then that's that. We can only hope some of the trees will grow back and bear fruit.”

“ _Then we'll beat up someone to check its healing powers? I vote Rayquaza._ ”

“Go to hell, Deoxys,” the green dragon snorted, flicking the back of his head.

“What do we do about the water here?” Shaymin pointed out, preventing any opportunity for a fight to start up.

The phoenix only shrugged. “We'll hold on to it, I suppose,” he muttered. “Until something comes up, it's useless.”

Everyone stared at the fragile vessel, looks of worry on their faces. “Um... where do we store it?” Mesprit shyly speculated. “Along with everything else?”

An awkward silence followed. Ho-oh's eye twitched.

“...Shoot, I haven't thought of that.”

“I have a place,” Celebi spoke up, raising his hand. “I'll take them.”

With a smile of thanks, the vial and collected items were handed over. The Time Traveler held the lighter objects while the slabs of stone he psychically lifted. In a white flash, he disappeared, then returned quarter of a minute later to ask, “So, what did I miss?” A small wave of quiet laughter flowed through the group, and Azelf patted his shoulder.

When it subsided, the Legendaries grew depressed once more.

Intentionally or not, Entei let loose a loud sigh, which startled a few of his peers. “This sucks.”

“Tell me about it,” his sister grunted, withstanding the itch to hit him.

He sat on his rump, slumping his shoulders. “Well... everyone's dead—”

“I didn't mean _literally_!”

“Yeah, we don't want it rubbed in our faces by the peanut gallery!” Raikou put in his two cents.

“You're making it worse,” Suicune growled, steaming.

“Yeah, stop ruining it for everybody,” Lugia joined in, glaring down at the tiger. “It's depressing.”

Zapdos scoffed, rolling his eyes. “ _Everything's_ depressing.” Articuno started to sob, tears rolling down her feathered face.

“Oh, nice work there, Zapdos, you're making your sister cry!” Giratina glowered, gesturing a wing in his direction.

“I didn't mean to!” he defended himself. “She just cries at everything.” Like he had given the word, his older sibling bawled, collapsing into Moltres' hold.

Deoxys threw his arms up. “ _Oh, wonderful, we made someone cry. It must_ _ **really**_ _be the end of the worl—ooh..._ ” He cringed, rubbing the back his head. “ _...that didn't come out right._ ”

Cresselia sniffed, tilting her head away. “Like always, Deoxys, your idiotic thoughts get the better of you.”

“ _I at least_ _ **caught**_ _myself!_ ”

“Too little, too _late_.”

“Cresselia, Deoxys, let's not start another fight,” Darkrai quickly advised, stepping in between the two. “We don't need another incident. And I thought you got over this.”

“ _Yeah, Cress dear, I thought you're a_ _ **lady**_ _._ ”

“Well, I used to think you were a gentleman, until that mouth of yours got in the way.”

Anyone who was listening in for the entertainment “ooh”ed. Deoxys brusquely laughed, fists on his hips and head thrown back. “ _That would be true, if I had one._ ” He held out a hand for a high-five, in which Entei obliged with a whoop, and Rayquaza followed suit (lightly) with his tail.

Cresselia flushed, eyes flashing pink. A few stood back cautiously, while the alien stood haughty in place. Rolling his eyes, the phantom spun his counterpart around and pushed her away. Quiet chuckles made their rounds, and the DNA Legendary smirked. “ _If that's what you want, I'll let you two lovebirds take a stroll, but you come back before dark, you hear?_ ”

Ho-oh, who had been listening intently, leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder for his attention. “That's enough, wouldn't you say, Deoxys?” he softly notified, cocking an eye-ridge to improvise his point.

He unexpectedly shrugged in agreement. “ _All right, I've had my fun with them. Now it's your turn, Mewtwo,_ ” and he nonchalantly motioned to the clone.

At the statement, he scowled, crossing his arms. “ _Leave me out of it._ ”

“ _D'aaaw, I'd say someone's cranky._ ” He stepped up to his side, casually wrapping an arm around a shoulder. The height difference made on-lookers snicker. “ _You want to talk about it?_ ”

Mewtwo calmly removed his hand. “ _There is nothing to talk about._ ” He turned to leave.

Deoxys stopped him by spinning him back around. “ _Of_ _ **course**_ _there is! There's an endless supply of one-liners to start a conversation. Say, uh... for example. I say, 'Hey, let's head over for a drink', and you'd say..._ ” He trailed off and waited, arms out-spread.

The feline glared down at him. “ _If you are trying to embarrass me by making a complete fool out of yourself—_ ”

“ _Nooo, Mewtwo, you're supposed to agree with me!_ ” the alien whined, then composed himself. “ _Okay, how's this? 'Hey, dude, that chick over there is_ _ **hot**_ _. You should totally go talk to her.'_ ” Winking to the spectators, he shoved him in Mew's direction.

She saw the movement in time, and swiftly flew to the side. Mewtwo, once he steadied himself, growled angrily and whirled around to shoot a Shadow Ball into Deoxys' face. “ _What the hell is your problem?!_ ” he roared, frightening everyone to silence when they saw his eyes glow a murderous blue. Lugia flinched, backing away.

“ _Oh, Arceus, my beautiful_ _ **face**!_ ”

Rayquaza happened to guffaw at his comment. “Well, I suppose karma _does_ exist, it's chewing on your ass right now.”

“ _Shut up, worm, you're next!_ ”

“That's enough!” Ho-oh snapped, storming into the middle of the field and spreading out his wings. He glared fiercely between Legendaries, mainly Deoxys and Mewtwo, whose leer never left the alien. “We are _not_ going to tolerate this any further! There's work to be done about our planet, and none of it will get accomplished if we continue to screw around like this. So everyone must make up their differences now, which is something that _should have_ been taken care of two months ago.”

“ _I wasn't the one assigned to—_ ”

“Not another word from you! I don't care who you weren't with, you are to learn to get along as we're going to be living together from now on!”

“I think you mean 'grouping' or 'teaming up',” Jirachi shyly mended, meekly raising a hand.

“I know what I said!” the phoenix verbalized harshly, swerving his stare to the now-frightened Wish Maker. “I mean... I'm sure I meant something similar...”

Shaymin stepped to his side. “You're still in shock. Why don't you lie down?”

“Nonsense, it won't make much of a difference,” he grumbled, slowing his breaths and rubbing his temples. “But _Arceus_ , I have a headache.”

It was almost cued-enough to let the group remain silent, like they were afraid he would explode if a cough sounded. So wordlessly, they all looked at one another, similar to how the meeting two months back started. By catching odd eye-contact did Darkrai realize his arm was still around Cresselia, and he pulled back, running the hand through his hair and glancing away. She didn't notice, if at all, though each time she glanced at the phantom, the more flustered he got. To prevent himself from teasing them even more, Deoxys turned his back on them and just stared out at the emptiness. Latias clung to her brother and managed to steal a glimpse from Mew, whose vision strayed from Mewtwo's direction even though most everyone were where he was. Kyogre, suspended in a lake not far off, bucked Manaphy from his head to encourage him to join the crowd. Hesitantly, he did so, stumbling across the rocky land to reach the others. He paused at the female Eon dragon's side, staring up at her. For him, she managed a small smile and placed a hand on his head.

The young prince couldn't bring himself to smile. She saw in his wide eyes a developing depression, a vow to never be happy again. It reminded her of Mew's eyes some many months ago, when all she did was lie in her make-shift crib and stare blankly ahead. Holding back a whimper, Latias gathered him in her arms, holding him close. Ho-oh, from where he stood watching, caught the similarities himself, feeling sorrowful for the young Legendary. After all the horrors that had happened, there was virtually no way innocence would survive it.

It felt like the last ray of hope had finally flickered out.

Timidly, Manaphy choked out a critical question: “What do we do now?”

The phoenix and Shaymin waited a minute before they looked at one another. “Well,” she slowly began, “I suppose we fix up the earth.”

“First, we must bury the dead,” Ho-oh pointed out. “Before we do anything else, that's what we should do.”

Zapdos couldn't help but blurt out, “ _How_? Don't you know how many lives were lost in this? It could take months or years to complete! But most importantly, will _every_ body get buried? The earth can only hold so much!”

“Oh, how would you know?” Lugia muttered darkly. “You've never dug a grave in your life.”

“I'm positive about a third of the population, if not more, have already been buried by the earth itself,” Shaymin remarked. “The land can take the other two-thirds.”

“Okay, then, say we did all that,” the thunder bird continued pessimistically. “Then what would we do?”

“Like I said, we'll fix the earth.”

“ _How_ , though?”

Moltres leered at her brother. “It's simple: Celebi will grow the plants, Kyogre will water everything, Suicune will purify the waters, _you_ can make your little thunderstorms with Raikou, and so forth.”

“In other words, use your talents,” Articuno stepped in.

He glared at each of them. “Fine, whatever. Now say we did all that. Then what?”

“We'll just sit around and listen to you bitching about life in general,” Giratina snorted, rolling his eyes. “Now say you did all that, and you die. _Then what?_ ” A few Legendaries, most notably Rayquaza and Deoxys, laughed.

“Go to hell, Giratina!”

The renegade smirked wickedly. “I have a few times, actually. I'm allowed to bring visitors with me. Thing is I have to leave them there for eternity. So, wanna take a road trip?”

“Giratina, don't encourage him,” Palkia grunted. “It's bad enough Deoxys and Cresselia yell at each other, we don't need any other unlikely rivalries to come up.”

Giratina chortled. “Yeah, like I haven't seen you and Groudon in a heated argument before.” The punch thrown at him didn't faze him.

Ho-oh sighed heavily, shaking his head. “I appreciate that you're thinking ahead, Zapdos, but let us cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, let us focus on putting souls to rest and healing the planet.”

“He does have a point,” Uxie said, raising his head. “We should have a plan in mind before we go ahead with this. Let us say the earth proves too cramped for this many bodies to be buried. What do we do with them?”

“Cremation, of course.”

“In one large pile, or smaller heaps?”

He shifted thoughtfully, feathers weakly glinting in the temporary sunlight. “Depends... on how many there are.”

The fairy slowly nodded. “Once the burials are all finished, we then start healing the earth. However, we have been noticing we've aged somewhat, and we are giving half of what we're capable of. Celebi here is using his life-source to keep the plants healthy, for example. It won't be long before he dies, if this continues.” The addressed pixie hung his head, wringing his hands. Uxie tilted his head back to the sky. “We may be immortal, but we have our limits. The earth truly doesn't need us to survive, we're just aiding it through for the healing process. Once we're not needed, then our lives will become meaningless in a way. Unless...” He fell silent, unwavering from his position.

“Go on,” Ho-oh pressed. “What are you about to say?”

A weak smile faded into view on his face, the gem on his forehead giving off a light glow. “I think we'll have Arceus take over from here.”

“...What?”

Uxie grabbed his siblings' hands and dragged them back, his gaze still upward. Everyone followed his lead, lifting their eyes and stepping back, silent gasps in their throats. From a break in the clouds, a pillar of light greater than the sun's was easing its way down for them. Many shielded their eyes, squinting at the brightness of it. When it fell upon the space before them, a personage came into view, the light growing softer until it appeared to illuminate from the newcomer's body. It was a quadruped, standing proud and boldly on its gold-plated hooves. Around the pelvic area was a four-pronged halo with emeralds embedded into it. The silver mane billowed from the head in a wind they could not feel, jade eyes scanning each and every being in the circle. Upon recognition, the speechless Legendaries slowly and respectfully knelt (some the best they could).

After the acknowledgment of everyone present, Arceus sorrowfully cast his eyes about the desolate wasteland. Words came from him carefully and penetrating, echoing into the emptiness: “ _O fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of Him who has created your body from the dust of the earth? How could ye have rejected Him, thy brother and Savior, who stood with open arms to receive you? Behold, had ye not done this, ye would not have fallen. O fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives... how is it that ye could have fallen? But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return._ ”

They could barely breathe when he spoke, their hearts spreading freezing vibes throughout their bodies. Some hung their heads, feeling guilt amidst the grief. Arceus turned to these very ones. “ _You may feel the sorrow now, but in your hearts, you know it is too late,_ ” he calmly said, in normal speech. “ _I had given each and every one of you a special talent so you may guide the world. You took my place, but you have desecrated it. Little by little, you forgot me and your promises so you could be of the world. You knew what was to happen had the world gone astray, it was eventually meant to be. Had you stayed faithful to your duties, I would not have descended to lecture you and give you your punishment._ ”

Ho-oh's head snapped up. “Punishment?” he gaped. Others followed suit, eyes widened. “We're being punished?”

Arceus looked into his eyes, causing him to shiver. “ _Indeed you are. But even you had forgotten that._ ”

“We all have, Lord,” Shaymin whispered her confession, keeping her eyes averted.

“ _Dear Shaymin, why must you call me that?_ ”

“B-Because you are, aren't you?” She meekly glanced up. “You did give us life, and our many talents and duties. We've been loyal for so long... so you are our Lord... in a ways.”

“ _I may have given you the duties, but I was instructed by another,_ ” he stated, a smile in his voice. “ _I did not give you life, not while I am only an angel._ ”

“But the legends! They all say you're a creator!”

“ _That is all they are: legends by humans. Humans who are quick to forget._ ”

“ _Wait, what?_ ” Deoxys piped up. “ _I am seriously not getting this. You're telling me—us—that you just came down here from heaven or whatever to say humans are forgetful and you're not God, so you're punishing us? That part's confusing, and I don't even know what we did to deserve such a thing!_ ”

“Deoxys, weren't you listening?” Cresselia hissed, more to herself. She shook her head with a huff. “Honestly...”

Arceus gave his remarks. “ _Indeed I am, Deoxys. And you know what you have done. Your heart is just hardened so you are refusing to accept the wrongdoings you have done._ ”

He fell silent, half-expecting Rayquaza or someone else to laugh about it.

Shaymin bowed her head. “I see, then,” she murmured. “It does make sense that we would forget. As immortal beings, we live to see the world change. It isn't long before we assimilate ourselves into the culture of the times, while in our hearts we know the truth.” She scoffed, smirking. “We are pitiful, even in our current state.”

“So we deserve to be punished then, eh?” Heatran queried, unable to take his eyes away from the heavenly being. “That's what we agreed to, right?”

“ _Correct._ ”

Giratina scoffed under his breath, “Whatever. It's not like my life could suck any more by whatever eternal punishment God has cooked up _this_ time.” Palkia elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

Even so, Arceus had heard his complaints, and passed him a glance. “ _Giratina, your punishment from before was for the best. It did you well, you are not as rebellious as you used to be. I promise you this group punishment will not be as burdensome, and it is for your soul's benefit._ ”

Mew took a breath. “A... Arceus, sir? What will become of the world now that the Tree of Beginning is gone?”

“ _Ah, dear Mew, the last guardian of the Tree._ ” He looked over to meet her gaze. “ _You need not to worry. Had the earth really relied on the Tree to survive, everything would have shriveled and died, and the earth would have fallen apart. Alas, it has not happened._ ”

“Then what was the point?”

“ _It was originally created to give hope, but it became something else entirely. It is for the best it was removed. We cannot have worldly influences for the new generation to grow up in._ ”

All the Legendaries stared up at Arceus with confused, almost disgruntled looks. Ho-oh had cringed at the sentence. “But Arceus... there are no survivors.”

A twinkle in the angel's eyes made him shiver. “ _There are,_ ” he amended. “ _I would not be here if there were none._ ”

Murmuring made its way through the circle, some laughing nervously at what they heard. “I knew they made an underground city!” Entei exclaimed, forcing a grin. “Oh, people have survived after all!”

Suicune smacked him upside the head. “Idiot, he's talking about _us_!” she snarled, though not as intimidating as she usually would make it. Inwardly, she flinched and hoped Arceus did not mean what he said.

“ _Oh, I never make mistakes,_ ” he answered like he had heard her thoughts, frightening her. “ _You should have known it was coming, Suicune. It is a commandment, after all._ ”

“What did you know was coming, sis?” Raikou blurted out, confused about the whole thing. He ignored her warning glare. “What have you been keeping from us?”

Darkrai gulped, twiddling his thumbs. “Uh... Arceus? It's... _that_ commandment, isn't it?” When the stag nodded, he ducked his head, flushing. Cresselia found herself side-stepping from him, putting two-and-two together. A few others caught on.

“ _You all knew this was meant to happen._ ” Arceus' voice suddenly started to rumble like thunder, and the nervous voices quieted down. He paused to look at them all once more, then resumed his speech. “ _Before I ascend, I leave with you your punishment, one you have all solely agreed on to be as you are as Legends. But behold, the Lord shows mercy to His children, and has given you a second chance, to which you must obey. Effective immediately, you shall all be stripped of your immortality, and must be as the common man. Cursed shall be the ground from which you shall labor in the fields, and eat by the sweat of your brows. I now give unto you a commandment from the great I AM, one that has been since the earth was created and remains in force, that you are to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. Failure to hearken unto these words will result in your imminent destruction, and you shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord forever. Amen. Peace be unto you, and farewell._ ”

When he had finished speaking, each and every Legendary's vision straightaway blacked out, and they fell faint to the ground.


	6. A Day in the Life of a Mortal

“ _And it came to pass that after I, the Lord God, had driven them out,_

_that Adam began to till the earth... to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow,_

_as I the Lord had commanded him. And Eve, also, his wife, did labor with him.”_

_\-- Moses 5:1_

*~*~*

It was extremely difficult to force oneself to awaken, to cause the stiff body to sit up. They were all dizzy, a few complaining about feeling sick to their stomachs and visions being hazy. Mewtwo was the first to recover and stand, glancing around at the stumbling Legendaries and surrounding emptiness. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt different, like he was not in his own body. Physically, he was still himself; mentally, he was the same. So what was wrong? He spun around expecting Arceus to be standing there, watching their struggles, but he was nowhere to be found. Blinking, he turned his gaze to the sky. No ray of sunshine shone through the clouds above them. Frowning, he massaged his temples trying to soothe his developing headache. It was oddly stronger now.

Picking himself up from the dust, Deoxys groaned, “ _My spine friggin' hurts._ ” He stretched, cricking his neck and popping his back.

“No, really?” Lugia sneered, trying to steady his balance and shooting a half-hearted glare in his direction. “You must've slept on a rock. The ground here was cloud-like, I barely felt a thing.”

Palkia let out a yawn, stretching over his head. “Oh, boy, I feel tired.” He scratched his lower back, face scrunched in thought. “Which says something, as I don't sleep very often.”

“We just woke up from a weird experience, our bodies _think_ they feel tired.” Dialga staggered to his feet, making his rival snort. “Or... we just gained some weight during our... couple hours' worth of sleep or whatever.”

A shout of joy suddenly sounded, startling the group and causing those who were barely standing to collapse again. Everyone turned to the source, and their jaws dropped. Rayquaza—not seeming to realize he may be making a fool of himself—was excitedly spinning around, looking at everything and closing one eye then the other multiple times, grinning brightly.

“I got my eyeball back!” He brought his tail to his sight, and squealed. “I'm fully healed! It's a miracle!”

After getting over the initial shock of the dragon's elation, Azelf glanced down at himself, running his hands all over his body. “Hey, I'm healed, too!” he announced, picking up the tail he knew the gem had been forcibly removed from. It gleamed brightly up at him like it was glad to see him. He looked at his brother and gasped, pointing at his appendage. “It grew back!”

Darkrai had an eye closed as he glanced around thrillingly. “My vision cleared up! Not that it wasn't bad when you healed it, Jirachi,” he quickly apologized.

The Wish Maker only shrugged, tugging at the aqua tags on his extensions that he _knew_ weren't there earlier. “I'm happy for you.”

“Celebi, you're not brown anymore!” Entei expressed out, pointing at the pixie. His sister was too surprised to smack him for his remark.

Indeed, Celebi had been restored to his natural color, his antennae curving backward and his extension sticking up. He twirled around trying to look at his wings, only to feel the energy through the spin. “Amazing!” he breathed, wide blue eyes sparkling in a way they hadn't in years. “It's like I became young again!”

Deoxys had been frozen in place of his stretching since Rayquaza's sudden outburst, and was aware of the attention he was bringing to himself. So thinking quickly, he straightened himself, brought out a reverent gasp, fell to his knees, and raised his hands to the sky in praise, bringing on the waterworks. A thin ray of sunshine happened to fall upon him just before he let out a breath, “ _I feel..._ _ **new**_ _again!_ ”

Everyone just stared at him, a few shaking their heads at his ignorance, then went back to marveling at the strange recovery. The alien pouted and grudgingly stood back up, muttering to himself about people being tasteless.

Ho-oh scrutinized himself, noticing his crown wasn't in his face anymore and his wings were giving off a brilliant glow. He turned to Shaymin, who had been reverted back to her Land Forme and was healthy as ever. She was crying tears of delight, feeling her flowers and her back the best she could. She trotted over to the lake (where Kyogre was gawking at his illuminating markings) and peeked at her reflection, weeping harder.

“Oh, it's a miracle!” she squeaked. “We've been spared!”

Mew poked and prodded herself, frowning slightly. “Yeah, I don't know. Doesn't it feel different to you?” she asked, glancing over at the hedgehog. “Like... there's something missing?”

“Don't kill the mood yet, Mew!” Zapdos whined in the middle of stroking his beak. “Let's worry about that later.”

“So you feel it, too?”

“Well, yeah... I just didn't want to bring it up.”

“Kill-joy,” Articuno muttered, even though she smirked.

“Wait, feel what?” Manaphy piped up as he tugged at his antennae. “I'm not getting it.”

Uxie hardly tore his gaze from his siblings as they happily danced. “We were unconscious for about a few hours, give or take a few minutes,” he quietly explained. He raised his head a little ways. “I find it strange we passed out like that.”

“Yeah, Arceus likes to do that,” the Renegade Legendary scoffed. “Bastard must think it funny.”

“Don't talk about Arceus that way!” Shaymin chided from her place at the lake shore, spinning around to grimace at the ghostly dragon. “Show some respect!”

“I'll show respect when I'm _dead_ , which is not for another eternity.”

Ho-oh's eyes apprehensively lit up, thinking back on what Arceus had told them just before they blacked out. After mentioning a punishment, he gave the word, and a burden was lifted then replaced with something heavier. It didn't explain the full recoveries, but that detail was too important to not ponder over. Even in the past two months, he never felt this drained.

He craned his neck toward Mew. “What is it you feel, Mew?” he mused, praying his suspicions weren't correct.

“Um... I don't know how to describe it...” She chewed on her bottom lip while staring up at the clouds. “My aura... just doesn't _feel_ the same. I feel like I'm more responsible for my actions now, like everything depends on it or something. Err... a strange sensation?” A blush of slight embarrassment burned into her cheeks.

Mewtwo couldn't help but gaze transfixed at the color before turning away. She wasn't aware of his actions.

The phoenix sighed, massaging his forehead. Some help it was. “Well, thanks anyway for trying.”

“She's right about the aura,” Darkrai came in, his sapphire eyes glinting mysteriously. “There _is_ something different about it. But our bodies don't feel right as well. As far as I know, we're just getting used to our newfound youth.”

“We didn't _age_ backwards,” Uxie stated the correction, shaking his head. “No, we haven't aged since we were immortal.”

“You don't mean...?” his sister gasped, ceasing her dancing to swerve around.

“I do. Don't you remember Arceus' words, our punishment?”

Groudon growled incredulously, eyes widening as he lifted his claws to his face. “We're _feeling_ ourselves _aging_?!” Strangely enough, a moment later he only furrowed his brows like he discovered or remembered a thought. “So I guess that's where they get the term 'under your skin' or however it goes.”

“Don't you mean 'out of body'?” Lugia grunted.

Ho-oh waved his wing around. “So we are no longer immortal. Anyone else want to comment on that?”

The only response was Deoxys' usual spat of a swear as he blasted a small crater into the ground. “ _You have_ _ **got**_ _to be screwing with us!_ ” he furiously snapped. _“I would have remembered a damn contract about that!_ ”

“It was an _oath_ , dumb-ass,” Rayquaza huffed to the side, his joyful attitude now gone. “And we forgot about it until Arceus reminded us.”

Latias raised an uncertain hand. “Uh... if we're mortal now... then why are we all healed?”

“Remember the story of Adam and Eve?” Latios brought to attention, glancing down at her. “It's believed that when their bodies were created, they were perfect. Even after they were made mortal, they still had a perfect body because God created it Himself.”

Giratina “pfft”ed off to the side. “Figures,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “Everything touched by a holy being becomes perfect.” A scoff from his nose. “And where's the proof of this?”

“Well, if I had a bible—”

“Well too bad! They all burned with the world! What do you say to _that_?”

“Giratina, that was unnecessary,” Ho-oh sighed.

“Who gives a damn? What, am I going to be struck down because I said every single freakin' religious book burned? And I thought we were being given a second chance. Oh, the irony!”

Cresselia's face had been slightly darkening since Latios had mentioned the name “Adam”, her eyes paling, beak slightly opening, and levitation depleting. Deoxys snorted at the sight. “ _Cress, do you mind, you're attracting flies._ ” No answer. He crossed his arms, leaning forward. “ _What's your problem, anyway? It looks like you got yourself a brain aneurysm._ ”

Slowly, after she swallowed a few times, her words came out in a hushed whisper. “Didn't... Arceus mention something else?”

Blinks and side-glances went through the group until Heatran broke the rather awkward silence. “He did give an order and a warning before we passed out.” And then his jaw dropped, and his eyes twitched. “Oh... my...”

Eventually, after everyone thought back to the last moment with Arceus, their silent reactions differed from paling and mouthing to muttering under their breaths. Latias, after consulting telepathically with her brother about it, blanched and let out a shrill scream. “Bloody hell, Latias!” her sibling shouted, covering his ears.

“ARE YOU _SERIOUS?!_ LATIOS, PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE JOKING!” She spun around and shook Jirachi without hesitation, frightening him even more. “IS HE TELLING THE TRUTH?!” The Wish Maker only stared terrified at her bulging eyes, too astonished to let out a whimper. The Eon dragon then burst into tears, releasing him so he dropped to the ground.

Raikou frowned, leaning over to his brother. “If I wasn't a man, I'd be crying myself.” (Suicune's mind was still in shock to comprehend what he said.)

Mew rushed forward to help calm her friend down, trying to keep herself from raising her voice, but losing. “La—Latias! Latias, it's oka—gah! Latios, do something! Latias! Just listen for a minute!”

“OH, MEW, IT'S TERRIBLE!” the female dragon only wailed, latching onto the small feline and shaking her as well. “WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!”

“LATIAS!”

“I can't do this, Mew! He's my brother, my family!”

“I-I know that, Latias,” Mew struggled to keep her voice from wavering, “but w-we have no choice!”

“YOU DON'T KNOW THAT! YOU DON'T HAVE A LIVING RELATIVE! HOW CAN YOU UNDERSTA—”

_SMACK!_

The slap echoed, everyone's visions soaking in the red imprint developing on Latias' face and Latios' raised hand. She gasped for breath, releasing her grip on her friend who moved forward to hold her. Mew glanced over at the male, silently thanking him as much as chastising him.

He lowered his arm, hanging his head. “I'm sorry,” he whispered to his sister. “I'm upset as well, but there is nothing else we can do.”

“Hey, Latios, does the Bible give the a-okay on incest?” Giratina chortled mockingly.

Ho-oh stepped forward, giving a harsh warning glare to the Renegade Legendary as his feathers bristled. “That's enough! I don't want to hear about it!”

The ratted wings twitched in what was interpreted as a shrug. “But it's _just_ a question.”

“I don't care! Procreation is not something to joke about, especially at a time like this!”

Articuno moaned, crossing her wings over her chest. “Please don't say you're serious about this.”

The Sky Guardian looked over at her, causing her to shiver. “I am. But I wasn't the one to suggest this.”

She grimaced, slowly turning her head to Zapdos, who was shrinking within himself. “...eew.”

“I'm not thrilled with it either, Art,” her sister agreed, stepping away from her brother. Uncomfortable enough as he was, he only glimpsed at each of his sisters, brows raised.

“None of us are,” Ho-oh sighed, shaking his head. “But it was bound to happen sooner or later, even without Arceus' confirmation. Unfortunately...” He trailed off, frowning deeply for a bird. Everyone leaned in, though a few didn't look too anxious to know the answer. With a breath, the phoenix finished, “...there are thirty-three of us.”

“Heh, so? That's plenty!” Raikou exclaimed rather pleasingly. He received many glares, forcing him to shrink back and rethink his thoughts. “Uh... odd-one out?”

Eyes narrowed in annoyance, Ho-oh added, “Of that, there are only eight females.”

Latias wailed.

Everyone else began to murmur amongst themselves. “We have to _share?!_ ” came from Groudon in whose disappointment wasn't all that surprising. He growled loudly, and the others were expecting him to throw a tantrum, or destroy something. Instead, he face-palmed and complained up into the heavens, “This is _not_ what I had in mind!”

Deoxys, in the meantime, had a rather smug smirk visible in his eyes. “ _Well, guess we'll have to cast lots or first dibs._ ” Chuckling a little to himself, he placed his hands behind his head, and announced loudly, “ _Now who wants to be my Eve?_ ” He turned to Cresselia, winking. “ _How about you, toots?_ ”

“Even if you _were_ the last Pokémon on Earth, I wouldn't have wanted you within a hundred miles of me,” she snidely remarked, up-turning her beak.

“ _Isn't that a little too clichéd?_ ”

“Fine, I'll be more direct with you. NO!”

It managed to bring out a few laughs in the group along with “Nice try, Deoxys!” and, “Better luck next time!”

The alien raised a hand, rolling his eyes. “ _Fine, be that way. I never wanted you anyway. Guess I'll have to find a_ _ **new**_ _Eve, one who'll_ _ **appreciate**_ _me for who I am._ ”

“I appreciate you,” Rayquaza quipped, hiding a smirk.

Deoxys didn't bother casting a glance at him. “ _Ehh... sorry. You're not my type._ ”

“Am I not good enough? I thought I was bitch-material.” Entei roared with laughter before he was silenced by Suicune.

“ _Not that term!_ ” the DNA Legendary hissed nervously.

“My mistake. I'm more of a whore.”

“ _The_ _ **hell**_ _, Rayquaza!_ ”

“Is that what you think of us, Deoxys?” Shaymin scowled, leering up at him. He flinched under her look, the dark eyes containing an awakening flame that sharpened her appearance. “You think of us as harlots?” Moltres gave a rather horrified, displeased gasp, sending him her lethal glare.

“ _NO! That's what I think of Rayquaza! No, I see females as individual beings with their own—uh—_ _ **accommodations**_ _in life and thus have the right to make their own choices._ ” Had he a mouth, Deoxys would be grinning sheepishly. The eight females bored a hole into his stomach, and he sighed in defeat, hanging his head.

Lugia guffawed from behind. “Cock-blocked!” Articuno harshly smacked him upside the head so he crashed face-down onto the dirt.

Ho-oh had enough of the jokes and was ready to bust a cap. “That does it! If anyone says one more gag about this ordeal, then I'll... exile that Legendary!” In his mind, he fought with himself as to what the actual punishment would be and keep himself from humiliation.

Of course, everyone caught on. “You don't have a penalty, do you?” Regice said matter-of-factly.

“Quiet, I'm thinking.”

“Sir, we can talk about this later if that's what you're implying,” Suicune advised, slightly nodding her head.

“No, Suicune, we need to make a plan anyway,” he said, somewhat exasperated. “Keep talking, hopefully something will come up.”

“To be honest, sir, we weren't really... brainstorming.”

“Yeah, and I don't want to bang my sister!” Entei verbalized without shame.

She let out a disgusted cry and slapped him upside the head, face red in anger and embarrassment. “I _swear_ to everything that is holy, Entei, I _will_ inflict bodily harm on you if you don't start thinking before speaking!” she screeched. “Or better yet, why don't you just say nothing _at all!_ ”

“Well what do you want me to say, that I don't want to have sex with my sister?” he whimpered, clutching his head.

“GOD _DAMN_ IT, ENTEI!”

After the beatings were over, Uxie gingerly gave his input. “There's an egg compatibility we need to keep in mind of. Not all of us will be able to... _create_ with the same person. There will be those who will be able to match them them all, and then there will be others who only get a few.”

“And how do we figure this out?” Ho-oh inquired.

“Blood tests are the simplest way to do it.”

“Uxie, we... really don't have the equipment _and_ the time to check this,” Azelf quietly said his part. “The way I see it, we'll all just have to... take turns.” He shuffled in place and looked up at the Sky Guardian.

After a moment of silence, the phoenix solemnly shook his head. “Even so, the problem is we'll need to create hundreds of species. And I doubt any of us can change a fetus' DNA at will.”

“Well, why can't Celebi just go back in time and bring back a few more females?” Zapdos suggested impatiently. “Preferably attractive ones.” He ignored the glowers of his sisters. “Scratch that, _prevent_ this disaster from ever occurring.”

“It doesn't work like that,” the pixie counteracted. “There are certain events in Earth's history that were destined—you could say—to happen. You can extend the time it takes to get to it, but it would eventually come to pass. Trust me when I say I've tried to keep world peace going as long as I could until Time refused to allow anymore alterations. And the rest... heh... is history.” He sadly gave a tiny smile, folding his arms. “As for the females from the past... I'd rather not. Consider it a waste of energy.”

The thunder bird scoffed. “Well, it was _just_ a suggestion.”

The Knowledge fairy then swerved his head in Mew's direction, forming a knot in her gut. “There may be a solution. Legends say a Mew has the DNA of _all_ Pokémon, that all life came from the first Mew, who was the Mother of Pokémon.” He levitated up to her, the gem on his forehead glowing. “This is asking a lot, and who knows how well your body can handle it... but first we must know if a Mew can alter DNA for different species.”

She wrung her hands, biting her lip. “I... I'm not sure. I think so. I mean, I've heard stories—legends really. But I don't know, we may have lost that ability. I'm sure Mother knew the answer, but she died when I was small. She was... from what I can remember, fairly young.” Her ears drooped. “Sorry I couldn't help you.”

Uxie placed a hand delicately on her shoulder, a small smile on his face. “How long ago was this, Mew?”

Her breath caught for a few moments. “...A little over a millennium ago. Sometime afterwards, about a couple of decades later, I was given an opportunity to be a Legendary, to guard the world. I agreed, and was given immortality. I haven't aged since.”

“Physically, anyway.”

“Well, yes. My birthdays were pretty meaningless, I suppose.” Mew forced a smile on her face. “Except the wiser part, anyway.”

He nodded and let her go. “If I had to take a guess, I'd say you're in the right age group to stay healthy throughout this, erm, trial. I'm sorry to say, Mew, that a lot will be placed on your shoulders.”

“Gee, that's comforting to know,” she dryly said, not meaning for it to be purposeful. “Thanks for making me feel better.”

“But what about her gene altering or whatever it is?” Palkia pressured. “How's that going to work?”

“Don't you mean gene splicing?” Moltres tried to amend.

“What, no! I didn't mean it like that! No offense, Mewtwo.”

The psycat only briefly nodded, arms folded loosely and gaze directed at the graying horizon. His silence caught attention, everyone focusing on him. Celebi tilted his head. “Hey, you okay there, Mewtwo? You haven't said a word the whole time we've been up.”

“Probably just brooding about life again,” Kyogre muttered. “Must not have been listening.”

“Maybe he's still in shock?” Jirachi guessed worriedly.

“Or brain-dead? Maybe.” Mewtwo scowled, sending a wary look his way. “Uh... silent treatment? I don't remember pissing him off, though.”

Shaymin stepped to his side, gazing up at the feline. “Mewtwo, is there something you need to say?”

She wasn't far off, Mewtwo was impressed at how well she could read expressions. Ever since the notation of them being mortal, he had tried to speak out his opinion about it—many times. However, he found himself unable to communicate with the others. It was like a barrier was separating their minds, reflecting or absorbing the words he tried to say. He struggled with it until the subject changed, and then chose to remain silent. It was a conversation he didn't want to talk about at the moment, and was somewhat grateful this undetectable shield kept him from speaking out.

“Mewtwo, you need to say something,” the little hedgehog continued, her tone of voice growing more terse. “Whatever it is, it must be important.” His vision remained on the horizon line. It made it more convincing he was choosing to ignore them.

“I think he's shy,” Darkrai snickered, only to be cut off from Cresselia's scorn.

“Or maybe he's lost for words,” Regigigas took his guess, shrugging his massive shoulders.

“Who, Mewtwo? I don't see that happening,” Giratina said, rolling his eyes. “He's too smart for that. I'd mistake his brain for a ticking time bomb, it's always in motion.”

“...what?” Dialga blankly said.

Mewtwo cracked a tiny smile at his stupid remark. The slight change in expression was like headline news. “Oh, there is a God after all!” Groudon sighed, raising his claws to the heavens. “He made a beautiful composition in that smile!”

“Took the words out of my mouth,” Rayquaza nodded, giving the titan a high-five with his tail.

“...Mewtwo?”

He tilted his head at the small voice to lock eyes with her, expression unchanging. Mew inwardly flinched that she took it upon herself to glance up at her clone, to stare at the amethyst gaze that haunted her the past two months. She shivered at how mellow his eyes were, at how he looked upon her. It made her wonder if he really had no idea what had happened the previous day; someone who was so cruel could never look the same way again, especially not twice.

She irregularly inhaled deep breaths, trying to keep herself in reality and not fantasize about _that day_. “Mewtwo, are you feeling well?”

Oh Lord, what was making her feel sorry for him? Was it a change of heart from the disaster they witnessed? Or was it that expression, the one that was cutting into her, making her feel guilty for her past actions against him? Mewtwo rarely ever expressed emotion visibly, and even if he did (here she subconsciously raised a hand to her throat) it was through rage. His angry rant must have come out without him realizing it. It never crossed her mind she could have hurt him.

The silent clone kept a close observation, watching as she fidgeted in place, taking in breaths and averting eye-contact. She was feeling uncomfortable talking to him, it was similar to when he yelled at her before his sudden blackout. He had been losing it and was close to spilling his heart out, which had to have been a mistake. He held many burdensome secrets, the sins and horrors he never let anyone know about. Scyther—God rest his soul, he prayed—was only given part of it. Not even Pikatwo and Meowtwo knew about it. The heart he never thought he had existed because of it. If it was let loose, Mewtwo feared he wouldn't have a meaning in the world anymore. And from what he saw in her melancholy eyes, she didn't need anything else to break her heart and spirit. Not after what he did.

“ _...Mewtwo, pay attention to me, dammit!_ ” And Deoxys marched forward and yanked the cord behind his head.

The scream emitted from the throat of Mewtwo chilled everyone to the bone, a few feeling the blood drain from their faces. Mew backed away a few feet, trembling in fear and awe. He spun around, teeth bared, and socked the surprised alien in the face with a fist.

“YOU _JACKASS_ , YOU COULD KILL ME DOING THAT!”

Once the echoes faded into the distance and the only sounds were their beating hearts, the negative tension that filled the area began to throb away. Deoxys remained frozen on the ground, shaken up more than the others. For a brief minute, Lugia thought Mewtwo was going berserk again and had shielded Articuno from view. The two hardly moved from their (awkward) position even when the atmosphere calmed down.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Ho-oh gave a nearly inaudible whisper. “What... was that?”

Astonished himself, Mewtwo ran his fingers against his throat. The rumble from within felt unnatural. “I... I am not sure.” He cast his eyes about the Legendaries, taking in their perturbed expressions. “This has never... I could have sworn I was mute.”

Uxie let out a breath he had been holding, tilting his head back. “If what Latios has said is true... that we were made perfect being healed by Arceus...” His mouth formed a serious, almost thoughtful line. “Mewtwo, how did you know you could communicate telepathically?”

“I honestly have not a clue,” he responded truthfully. “I knew I could communicate, and I was merely thinking to myself. It could be I never had any control over my powers at birth and thus my thoughts were made broadcast. I suppose it became habit.”

“Then why can you not speak with it?”

“Again, I do not know. Something was blocking my every attempt to contact everyone. It was not that I forgot how, I just... could not break through.”

The fairy nodded. “How peculiar. I suppose if that's the case... I no longer need to rely on my mental sight.”

His siblings and a few others gasped in fright. Mesprit grabbed his arm tightly. “Don't do it, Uxie! You don't know that for sure!”

He gave a sad smile. “Then if I was wrong after all, I will not blame you if you all become barbaric and eat me on instinct.” And his eyelids snapped open.

Nearly everyone covered their own eyes automatically. Mewtwo, not out of stupid curiosity but of puzzlement, stared back at the golden oculars he shared with his brother and sister. Uxie smiled back at him. “You're either a brave soul, or you are suicidal,” he replied wryly. “Or just plain stupid.”

Shaking his head, the clone stated, “I am confused as to what the commotion is about. What was it about you that you keep your eyes closed?” He caught a glimpse of Ho-oh peeking out from his feathers. The bird slowly lowered his wings, a worried look on his face.

“I am the one who gave humans knowledge. But I can take it away, well, at least through memories. Just one look in my eyes, and in three days the brain shuts down, intelligence-wise. It's a terrible death, the malfunction of the brain. The victim is forever a vegetable, trapped inside the body until they die.” By this time, the Legendaries were all relaxing one by one, daring to glance at the golden irises. The fairy sadly sighed, not showing signs he could feel their stares. “I suppose I can thank God that the curse may have been lifted from me.”

Deoxys broke the mood by hollering, “ _OH DEAR MERCIFUL ARCEUS OR GOD, IT BURNS!_ ”

“Stupid, the joke's over,” Lugia grumbled, shaking his head at the alien's arrogance. “You're just making an ass out of yourself.”

A low gurgling rumble suddenly sounded, turning heads and making faces wince. Kyogre slightly lifted his head up out of the water, raising a brow quizzically at the expressions. “What's going on? Why is everyone looking uncomfortable?”

“You didn't hear that?” his rival asked, a little surprised.

“Hear what?”

The bubbling noise returned. “There, didn't you hear that?”

“Sounded like a stomach growling,” Manaphy stated, glancing at the other Legendaries' faces. “We haven't had anything to eat in over a day, after all.”

“Bah, eating is out of the question,” Giratina barked. “We eat when we feel like it. I'd say someone has something bad in their system.” His eyes then trailed down to the Legendary Beasts, and held back a snicker. “What's gotten into you, Entei? You're all tense.”

The siblings looked at their brother, who was so stiff and hunched over his body quaked while he tried to keep a whine stuck in his throat. His eyes darted to and fro, betraying his need of aid. “What's the matter with you?” Raikou asked, waving a paw in his face. “You look like you've seen a ghost or something.”

Entei swiftly shook his head, accidentally smacking his sister with his mane. “N-No, it'sss... not that at all.”

“Are you _still_ hurting? Damn, Suicune, how hard did you hit him this time?”

“It's not from Suicune, I swear.”

“Well _something's_ spooking you. You need to lie down?”

“I'm afraid if I do...” He turned to his sister. “Sis, I feel like my guts are going to explode!”

She incredulously snorted, but didn't say anything. Desperately, he looked over at Ho-oh, who was standing there not having an idea what was wrong with him until he requested, “Repeat what you said.”

“I think my guts are going to explode or something! I'm trying... to keep it in!” The lion's face grimaced, his teeth gnashing as his tremblings increased.

Almost immediately, Celebi screamed, “Get far away from us, Entei! Do it quick or you won't make it!”

“Where do I go?!” he wailed.

“Anywhere, it doesn't matter! Just far away from us as possible! Now go!”

Without any hesitation (or a push from Suicune), Entei obeyed. His run was humorously awkward as he sped for the horizon, a mix between a sprint and a hop or skip. After watching him leave, they all turned to the Time Traveler for an explanation.

Twiddling his fingers nervously, he responded, “Err... I've hung out around human civilization long enough to know... that this wasn't going to be pretty.”

“Define the antonym for 'pretty',” Palkia pressured, though he was regretting ever opening his mouth.

“Uh...”

“Is this something we should or should _not_ know about?”

“...a little bit of both.”

“So we should know, but then again we really shouldn't, is that what you're implying?”

“Oh for goodness' sake, Cel, just tell us!” Dialga shouted, wanting to smack his rival. “No one's really going to care!”

Celebi quickly looked behind him. “I think we should have Entei tell us when he gets back.”

“Please, like anything he says make sense,” Suicune scoffed. “We'd be here all day trying to figure it out.”

Shaymin's eyes nearly bugged out as her thoughts brought up a memory. “Wait a sec. We're mortal, right? Aren't there some things that were... 'shut down' when we were granted immortality?”

Ho-oh craned his neck in thought. “Some. There's the common belief that immortals don't bleed because they have no blood, but we still bled. I was probably thinking about gods, though, so I guess that doesn't really count. Mmm... well for one thing, we eat when we feel like it, but we can't go for long periods of time without losing nutrition.” (Though it went unnoticed, Mew held herself when a cold vibe ran through her body.) “Sleep is more of a desire if we felt like it, again, but lack of it can still be unhealthy. Same with water... we never get sick, though. We have developed an immunity to sicknesses...”

“I should have worded it different,” the hedgehog sighed. “No, I meant are there some _quirky things_ mortals go through in life?”

“ _Sex,_ ” Deoxys coughed, pounding his chest and ducking a swing from Moltres' wing.

“Besides that.”

“Oh my _God_ , Celebi, just tell us!” Dialga complained loudly.

“Tell us what?” Entei butted in, startling those caught off-guard.

Suicune groaned, laying a paw over her eyes and clearing the way for Raikou to explain. “He said he knows why you ran off like that.” He peered closer in suspicion. “What happened out there?”

His brother's eyelid twitched and his nose wrinkled. “I have no idea, it happened so fast. But it was gross and smelly.”

“Did you dig a hole, Entei?” Celebi spoke up, which awarded him a few glares.

“Was I supposed to?”

Shaking his head, the pixie then jabbed a finger in the air and announced, “Okay everyone, a word of advice: always dig a hole and stay out from the open.”

“Oh yes, that's _wonderful_ advice, if we knew what we were up against!” Palkia snarled. “Besides, it's not like we've never heard about it before.”

“I thought you said you didn't know what it was,” came Giratina's smug remark, a mischievous grin on his face.

“D-Dammit, you know what I mean! Bah, can you at least give us a hint?” Celebi only gestured to Entei. “What, it has to do with stupidity?”

“I'm not stupid, I'm just different!”

Latios slapped his forehead, groaning. “Forget it, guys, we're getting nowhere with this.” There then came another gurgle, and his eyes widened with everyone else. He swerved his head to his sister, who burned with embarrassment as she clutched herself. “Aw, f...”

“I can't help it,” she squeaked, tensing up. “It just... came so suddenly.”

“Uh oh... I'm getting that feeling, too.” And Jirachi wavered.

“ _It's freakin'_ _ **contagious**_ _?!_ ” Deoxys shouted, falling to his knees. “ _Oh, God, why are you doing this to us?!_ ”

“Deoxys, that doesn't help one bit!” Cresselia snapped.

“ _ **I'm**_ _the one yelling it, not you!_ ”

“Before things get too chaotic about this, everyone, whether you have to or not, head someplace far away!” Ho-oh ordered over the growing commotion. “Take Celebi's advice and—dare I say it—pray it's a false alarm! Entei, stay here, we'll return shortly.”

The volcanic beast nodded, and stood in place, watching everyone run off in different directions at once like they were fleeing from an epidemic. (Which, he thought, must have been him.) After some swears from a few Legendaries, and when the last one disappeared from view, everything was quiet. The silence made him shiver in place; the slightest howl of wind somewhere, anywhere, caused him to twitch. It may be only for a few minutes, but Entei felt like he was the last being on Earth. It frightened him. To keep himself calm, and to reassure himself everything was all right, he began to talk to himself, which was against his sister's orders.

“Aw man... did they _really_ have to leave me here?” he whimpered. “I don't care that it's still light out and there's open space, it's just so creepy... Okay, Entei, remember what Ho-oh said, right? They'll be back. They're doing what you did a few minutes ago. Why are you thinking that, that's gross. Come on, guys, hurry it up. I'm not supposed to be by myself for long periods of time...”

“That's what you get for being a dumb-ass,” a gruff voice grunted, and his shoulder devil appeared in a puff of crimson smoke. He put down the pitchfork he had been carrying in his mouth to sneer. “If you had listened to what I said, you wouldn't be in this mess.”

“It wasn't my fault,” Entei sniveled, frowning down on his entity. “That creepy guy was chasing after me. He cornered me, I didn't have a choice!”

“Entei's right.” When the white smoke cleared, the shoulder angel appeared halo and all, the cloud it rested upon morphing frequently. “The cliff was over a healthy forest. He at least managed to get away. Granted, the poor dear lost his footing, but don't make fun of him.”

“Baby cherub is right, stop making fun of me!”

A “pfft” when the devil waved a paw. “Whatever, if I was him, I would have set him on fire. Fire, fire!” And he barreled over in psychotic laughter.

“I don't like setting things on fire.” He remembered the lake. “Not on purpose.”

The Entei-angel patted him on the cheek. “There, there, it's not your fault. You've been getting better.”

“Not as fast as he would like. I blame Suicune, she's such a bitch.”

“Hey, don't talk about my sister like that!” Entei growled.

“What makes you think _I_ said it, bub?” the devil smirked evilly.

“Because I would never call Suicune tha—”

“ _OH MY GOOOOD_!”

The echoing scream made Entei and his companions jump. From the distance, he could hear a few Legendaries yell at Lugia to shut up and deal with it. Looking at each of his entities in concern, he ran off in the water dragon's direction. It didn't take long to reach him, and he skidded to a halt beside him.

“What happened here?” he asked, taking note of the beast staring in horror at the gray bush before them.

“I-I just happened to look over and spot a...” His face grimaced, and he groaned. “Oh, it's disgusting.”

“Yeah, I know. I thought I was going to die.”

“No, not that.” He timidly pointed at the brush. “It's what's in _there_.”

Feeling adventurous, Entei poked his head through the bristles, and his face fell. Lying there in a crumpled heap was a decomposing corpse still in uniform. He yelped and stumbled away, keeping back a gag. “That's gross!” he gasped. “Oh, why'd you pick this spot, Lug? It smells of death everywhere!”

“I didn't know it was there until I looked for the source! Did you see the eyeball staring at you?”

A shiver ran through the volcanic beast's spine. “I don't think so.”

“Oh, guess it must've gotten knocked out or something when I moved.”

“Should we bury it, or leave it here?”

“I was thinking that after we get over the shock of it, we can take it back to the others and freak them out.”

“I'm not touching that.”

“Me either.”

They stood there for a moment's silence, growing dizzy from lack of oxygen. When they couldn't take it anymore, the two hurried back to the group, attempting to shake off the horrid scent and tremors.

Suicune scowled at her brother. “Where'd you run off to? You were told to stay here.”

After taking in a long—and rather loud—breath, he replied calmly, “Lugia screamed, didn't you hear him?”

“Who didn't? Scared the crap out of me. Literally.” Zapdos' eye twitched.

Deoxys gave the thunder bird an odd look before crossing his arms and glancing up at the sea beast. “ _What do you have to say for yourself, Lugia?_ ” he said harshly. “ _Was it an emergency that you just_ _ **had**_ _to scream it out to make yourself feel better?_ ”

“We found a dead guy!” Lugia piped up without shame once he could breathe.

“Okay, what's Lugia rambling on about this time?” Rayquaza grunted, settling off a ways from everyone. “Actually, I'm surprised it's not Entei this time.”

“Dead guy in the bushes!” the mentioned Legendary repeated. “It was gross!” His sister swiped him upside the head.

The Air Titan rolled his eyes. “Duh. I saw one too, but you didn't hear _me_ sing my heart out.” He sneered in Lugia's direction.

He threw his wings up in defense. “How was I supposed to know it was there? I didn't really feel like looking around.”

“Then next time keep your trap shut about it. I honestly thought you were having a heart attack out there.”

Latias swooped into the picture, anxiously staring up at Lugia. “What happened out there?” she squeaked. “You okay?”

“Can we wait until everyone else is here before you bother telling us again?” Zapdos muttered. “I don't want to hear it another hundred times.”

“ _Is this another of your 'I'm very visual' excuses?_ ” the alien muttered.

“No, I just don't want either of them to repeat it a gazillion times.”

“But you said 'hundred',” Entei corrected.

“You know what, Entei, just shout it out to the heavens, why don't you!” he snapped, electricity crackling from his wings when he flapped them in irritated defeat. “Everyone can pretty much hear you no matter _how far_ they are! So just shout it out! Go on!”

Shrugging, he took it up on the offer, and hollered as loud as he could, “You guys won't believe it, we found a dead guy! It was _sick!_ ” Then he spread on a goofy grin. “How's that?”

Zapdos only gave an “a-okay” gesture with his feathers, his face clearly screaming sarcasm.

Latias, in the meantime, fainted.

*~*~*

The afternoon was spent (or wasted, depended on the Legendary's intake of it) on splitting up and scavenging through the land of Orre for anything of interest, or to perform a few duties such as burying corpses, and finding food, or at least the seeds. They had gone in groups, only for some to be cut in half due to intense arguments or complaints. The one group who had Registeel lost him in a deserted town for a time until he was found attempting to construct a life-size figure of himself, claiming he was making himself a mate.

“Because there are only eight females,” he indicated when asked about it. “The only thing I'm missing right now is how to bring her to life.”

“And 'she' is missing internal and reproductive organs,” Celebi had blankly pointed out, unimpressed. He was received the finger, and the iron-clad Legendary was relocated to a different group.

In another, Cresselia appeared to have gone missing for a moment, but they found her reporting-slash-protesting to Ho-oh about Deoxys' shrewd comments. “I can't take it anymore!” she practically shrilled. “I've put up with him and his sexual harassment for far too long! I demand a restraining order!”

“ _Which requires a judge to approve,_ ” he butted in with his smart-aleck statements.

They were reassigned to two separate groups: Cresselia remained with the original—which contained Darkrai and Jirachi—and Deoxys went with Rayquaza and Entei. After a cruel joke about “extra protein” in the corpses, they had to return to the campsite with stomachaches and for the alien's punishment. The short naps the two were required to take ended up having them suffering nightmares in which Cresselia was called back to heal them. Which in turn resulted in the failure of the restraining order. (And she found out she couldn't conjure up any dreams.)

Sometime in the late hours of the afternoon, everyone had regrouped together for a lunch break consisting of what some were able to salvage from any trees found still intact. Raikou returned a little later with a strange human article laid upon his head.

“What'd you do this time?” his sister grumbled, glaring at the dirtied object.

“Nothing, all I did was look through rubble in some town not far from here.” He wrinkled his nose. “Why? Am I really that dirty?”

“No, you have something on your head.”

He dropped it at his feet. They all stared quizzically at the curiously-rounded protruding cups and small hooks. The electric tiger didn't even blink. “Oh, that. That's my new hat-earmuffs of sorts. Keeps the ears warm and dust-free. Neat thing, it is. And the great thing about it is the inside is padded, so it's rather comfortable.” He then grinned. “It's weird, it's like it was made to fit my head. I think the straps are supposed to hook underneath my chin, but I don't have thumbs, so I couldn't test it to be sure.”

“Where'd you find it?” Azelf spoke up, brows raising slightly.

“Erm... I think it was once a house, I dunno. There were a lot just like it, but this one was cleaner and fit more. Pretty cool, eh?”

Mewtwo suddenly stood up and walked several feet away to sit on a boulder, back turned. “What's with him?” Dialga snorted.

“I think he's jealous,” Groudon snickered. “Wishes he could have a hat-earmuff thing like that. Raikou, you need to show us later where the stash is. Could be useful for winter.”

Kyogre, half-submerged in the lake, didn't bother to glance up at the titan. “You don't have the ears for it.”

“Shows what _you_ know, dumb-ass.”

Ho-oh, after taking a long look at the item, grimaced. “I've seen one of those before...”

“Awesome, Ho-oh! Where?” Raikou bounded in place excitedly.

“Well, uh... normally you don't see them visible in public... but I have peeked in on a few people.”

“Oh, my _God_ ,” Lugia hissed in disgust, an eye twitching.

“Not like that, Lugia.”

“I don't know you anymore,” he muttered, putting up a wing and averting his gaze. “I looked up to you, and it turns out this is the Legendary you've always been.” Giratina rumbled with silent laughter.

Rolling his eyes, the phoenix resumed, “Anyway, from what I had _witnessed_ , it's a clothing article.”

“We can see that,” Zapdos interrupted.

Shooting him a warning glance, he added, “It's a _female's_ clothing article. They wore it on their chests under their shirts.”

Immediately Latios shielded his sister's eyes, Shaymin spun Manaphy around, Articuno smacked Lugia for gawking at it, Darkrai and the Lake Trio flushed, and the remaining males “ooh”ed or groaned (or just brought attention to themselves making a big deal out of it like children). Raikou paled and turned to Suicune, expecting her to hit him, which she chose not to.

Deoxys, in the meantime, guffawed as he picked it up, stretching it out at arm's length. “ _Well, whatever female owned these must have gotten lucky or she was a slut. Possibly both._ ”

“Deoxys, that's just _wrong_ ,” the moon swan snarled.

“ _Whaaat, I just happen to know a little bit about the female human, so I knew what this was all along. They pretty much tell you what kind of female they were. Glad to know I'm not the only one._ ” He cheekily smirked at Ho-oh, who only crossed his wings and looked away. “ _Thankfully, as interesting as they were, I had no reason to hang around them. Their damn hormones scared me, the way they were all up in a male's face and all that._ ” He shuddered with a wince, then muttered darkly, “ _That one night screwed with my head, I_ _ **never**_ _want to see that again. I just about gouged my eyes out._ ”

“So why didn't you?” she sniffed.

“ _I did, but they regenerated back. I'm not_ _ **that**_ _perverted, yeesh._ ” He took another good look at it again, disregarding Cresselia's scoffing. After pinching the cups (and receiving weird stares), his eyes then trailed to the background, and he snickered wickedly.

The back of Mewtwo's neck prickled and he slowly glanced behind to catch Deoxys' mischievous glint. Eventually, everyone also turned to stare at him, slightly leaning in. “Why am I getting that feeling a devious plot is developing?” he inquired nervously.

“ _I find it too bad it's a piece of_ _ **female**_ _clothing,_ ” the alien cackled drawlingly, stepping toward the psycat. “ _But it just makes us feel a_ _ **little**_ _remorse for the poor fool who winds up wearing it._ ”

He shot up from his seat. “You are not implying that I am to wear that?”

“ _Why not? You're the only Legendary with a visible chest. Next to Groudon, but he's too big for it._ ”

“I refuse to take part in this childish activity.”

Deoxys snorted a laugh. “ _It's not childish, we're experimenting._ ” He then paused at the flash in Mewtwo's eyes and had a second thought. “ _Well, not in_ _ **that**_ _context. I meant it's just for fun. And besides,_ ” and here a grin was audible in his speech, “ _it looks like it's your size._ ”

“Deoxys, it's not funny anymore,” Darkrai spoke out. Flustered, he choked out a giggle that made Cresselia shoot him a look. “Err, honestly, let's just go back to pretending it's a hat... earmuff thing.”

“You kidding me? I'm not wearing that again,” Raikou cursed it, spitting to the side.

Raising a brow and tilting his head in the group's direction, Mewtwo demurely remarked, “There. I have testimonials to back me up.”

The alien spun around unhappily. “ _You guys suck! Rayquaza, buddy, I thought you were backing me up on this!_ ”

“How the hell was I supposed to know?”

Laughter spread.

Mew then flew up and swiped it from his hands. “That's enough, Deoxys. Thank you for the laughs, but you've done enough today.”

He oddly gaped at her in slight astonishment, then leaned back and crossed his arms. “ _Is that a threat?_ ” he slyly asked.

“What?”

“ _Said if that was a threat. Since when could you start bossing me around, let alone stop me from playing a joke on Mewtwo?_ ”

“I'm not threatening you, I'm just...” She glowered at the item, then held it out to Deoxys. “This is a bra.”

“ _A what?_ ”

“It's what the humans called it. I thought you knew.”

“ _I'm not_ _ **that**_ _informative. I may have_ _ **seen**_ _it, but it didn't mean I_ _ **heard**_ _what it was called._ ” He then started to choke out a chuckle. “ _Honestly, where'd they pull that name out of? 'Bra', really?_ ” His eyes then narrowed suspiciously. “ _Hey, wait. How'd_ _ **you**_ _know the name?_ ”

With a disgusted scoff, she threw it in his face. (Mewtwo swerved around for an awkward coughing fit to hide a smile.) “You're despicable, you know that?” she nearly shouted.

“ _Hey, these things are adjustable!_ ” Deoxys suddenly blurted out, snapping the straps and noticing a plastic slider on each one. “ _Maybe they_ _ **will**_ _fit on Groudon after all!_ ”

“Oh, for the love of—”

“ _Mew, if you're so concerned about it, why don't_ _ **you**_ _wear it?_ ”

Face red enough as it was, she snatched it back, and her fist caught fire, flames spreading rapidly through the fabric until nothing but the wire base was left. Everyone, Mew included, was taken aback at how quickly it was extinguished. Slowly, she handed it back, muttered incomprehensibly to herself, and chose that moment to go for a walk. Latias and a few other females followed immediately afterward, while some males went back to what they were doing minutes ago—though others improvised what they possibly _might_ have done. Deoxys gawked at what remained of the bra and excused himself. Upon passing Mewtwo, the skeleton was turned over to him. Unsure what to do with it, he kept it clenched in his hand, refusing to look at it.

An awkward silence settled for a while.

Then Entei showed up, and yelled out (thus startling those who didn't see him come up), “Deoxys, you psychotic bastard, thanks a lot! Because of you, black liquid came out of my butt! And it wasn't pretty!”

Suicune threw up.

*~*~*

The weeks that followed weren't pleasant. After the second day of their new lives, or so they would curse, they traveled away from the desolation of Orre for a place that looked more suitable to fit their needs. Celebi guided them to a small area he had helped revive prior to their mortality (as he found himself unable to even grow grass), and decided to camp there. Even so, food was still scarce. Any morsel they found they had to pry out the seed to plant and made sure to keep it nourished. Water was tricky, as Kyogre and Manaphy relied on it, and after many complaints about risk of contamination to the fresh water, they moved closer to where both the ocean and fresh water was still available in a few close places. Still, Heatran was asked to dig for a spring when more concerns and whining came up about walking to and fro, when in actuality, they didn't want to pass a town. Or what remained of it. Lugia, after taking a look around, had confirmed it to be the remains of Cherrygrove City. So they buried every inhabitant they could find and hunted through the debris for anything of use.

Eventually fights had begun amongst the males over who got to pair up with who. The moment Mew had tried to break up the conversations, she was forced to endure the hoards of the so-called “horny males”, as Lugia had described, that pushed to get a “word” with her and ask for her permission. Until Ho-oh finally prohibited a certain few to keep their distance, she was harassed left and right to the point Shaymin had to take her into the little forest for a few days to calm her down. Once it had blown over, as uncomfortable as she felt under the stares and (occasional) ogles, she trusted enough Legendaries to stay in the group. Though every now and then, in the city somewhere, she would catch wind of bickers and complaints.

Among the many things that they had to live with, sleep was unanimously adapted to easily, aided from being a previous pleasure to begin with. Now that Darkrai was no longer giving off negative vibes that provoked nightmares, everyone, the phantom included, were pleasantly rested—only after everyone had claimed their preferred resting spots. The biggest complaint about sleeping, however, besides arguing over who slept where, was having to wake up in the early hours for their daily chores and work. As was to be expected, though no less frustrating, some were more early birds than others.

In the third week of their staying at Cherrygrove, much to the surprise of many, Latias had a birthday. While it was usually a happy occasion for her, she cried when they said “one year older” in the song (though the Legendaries blamed a few reluctant ones who were purposefully screwing it up) and was depressed the whole day.

“She'll get over it eventually,” Latios sighed later that night when Mew came to check up on her. Then he nervously laughed, rubbing his head. “To be honest, we never sang that version. I didn't even know it existed.”

Then one morning, Mesprit was the first to wake up and go to the woods for her daily needs. When she glanced into the water to wash her face, her eyes went wide and she screamed. Everyone jumped up with a start, and Uxie and Azelf hurried to their sister. Fearing the worst, they all followed into the clearing to see the fairy pale and tear-streaked, wordlessly pointing at the lake.

Deoxys stood at the water's edge and glanced around, finding nothing. “ _The hell, Mesprit,_ ” he groaned, rolling his eyes.

“L-Look down,” she whimpered, clutching at her brothers.

Shrugging, he did, and after a few moments, stepped back in rare somberness. Concerned, Ho-oh took his turn, only to pull back gravely. “What is it?” Jirachi gasped.

With a low sigh, he simply pointed at the water and trudged back to their campsite. Hesitantly, one by one, they went forward to glance down, then left without another word. Some cried, others shook their heads, but they all had a similar expression on their faces. Mewtwo was the last after the Regis had their chance. He tilted his head down, staring in near-incredulity at his reflection. He understood right-away why everyone went quiet and were horrified. Used to perfection, they couldn't see it happening to themselves at any time.

Him? He was not surprised by it. Had it not been that he knew his appearance well, he wouldn't have recognized the mirror-image of himself.

It explained everything: the fatigue, the effects of not eating, self-hygiene, the negligence was there in his form. The dark circles visible from the dirt on his face were the only mysteries, he was very certain he was getting enough sleep. But he understood the prevailing bony structures of his cheekbone and jaw having made themselves known. Looking further, he felt along his ribcage, just barely feeling the spaces between each rib, then reached behind to touch his spine. Gazing down at his arms, they had indeed been looking bonier, he didn't imagine that a few days back. His shoulder blades were rougher, more defined, his hour-glass figure thinner. It didn't make sense why his legs hadn't given out under him, but he was still standing the way he always had.

Mewtwo suddenly thought back to his fellow Legendaries. Now that he was thinking about it, he _had_ beennoticing they were looking different. It was like they were returning to how they were before Arceus came, only much worse. No longer immortal, their bodies became unable to retain the same figure for months on end, and the effects were shown within weeks. It really was a wonder they didn't collapse from it all.

Taking a deep breath, he walked back to where the others sat in silence. They were all staring at the ground, unmoving, trying to take in what they had seen. Mewtwo pitied them for a moment. “I trust we are all hunting down food today?” he quietly asked.

Without looking up, Manaphy murmured, “We're all going to die, aren't we?”

That wasn't the answer he was expecting, but then again, it was possible they were trying to get over it. Just not as fast as he would have liked. “If you keep this up, you will. Now answer my question.”

“What's the point, we're all losing the meat from our bones,” Rayquaza grumbled. “Besides, there's thirty-three mouths to feed, and not enough trees.” Entei mumbled a “Heh, rhymes” without enthusiasm.

“We will manage, we have been planting.”

“True... and they have been growing well,” Celebi gave his insight, shrugging slightly. “But even then, they don't bear fruit for a while.”

“You're talking about berry trees, Cel,” Articuno corrected.

“Mewtwo was talking about berry trees and whatever else we've been growing.”

“Who cares, everything's dead and gone,” Zapdos sneered. “We're all doomed.”

“ _Isn't that Giratina's thing to talk about doom and being King of Doom or whatever?_ ” Deoxys huffed.

“Nope, definitely my thing.”

Moltres scoffed. “Since when?”

“Since now. Leave me to my doom and doominess!” He turned his back on her.

“That's not even a proper word.”

“It is now!”

“Oh. My. God. Just shut up,” Lugia snapped, readying himself to smack the thunder bird. “I don't want to hear about your doom and whatever.”

“Fine! I'll talk about gloom!”

“They're all dea—oh, _that_ gloom.” A few Legendaries glared at him, then returned to their moping.

Mewtwo shook his head and massaged his temples. “I cannot believe you are all acting this way,” he huffed. “What are you, figures of legend, or spoiled brats?”

“We are _not_ spoiled brats!” Groudon roared, standing to his full height. “Who the _hell_ do you think you are to call us that?”

“What is it with you? Just because you saw what you look like now does not mean you will forever look like that!” Mewtwo shouted, pointing at the forest. “Is that what this is all about? Are you all frightened of what you have become now that you are just giving up? I thought you were legendary for this sort of thing!”

“We _are_ legend,” Palkia grunted.

“I was talking about _survival_!”

“What does survival have to do with this?” Giratina retorted, spiked wings folded tightly against his back.

“ _Everything!_ ”

“You know what I think? I think your brain has finally given out on you, I've never seen you so hysterical about this.”

“I am not hysterical! I am worried!”

The Renegade Legendary pretended to be astonished. “No way! Mewtwo, _worried_? Oh, I think I'm going to faint. Dialga, catch me.”

He ignored the nervous, empty feeling in his chest to back himself up. “Why must you treat this as a _joke_? I am being serious here! Were we not given a second chance at this? Do you not believe that we have been kept alive for a reason?”

“Mewtwo, are you going to be preaching to us?” Ho-oh interjected, raising a brow then shrugging. “I'm just saying.”

It was a bit abrupt for the Sky Guardian to speak in such a way, but Mewtwo retained his composure quickly. “No, I am not. I am just trying to make a point. Does it not seem strange to you that we lived through the disaster even with grievous wounds?”

“Says you, I don't recall ever seeing a scratch on you,” Darkrai pointed out, crossing his arms. “Come to think of it, you have always looked the same, even when the rest of us were falling apart.”

“That does not matter at this point.”

“Well maybe it does because of the reason _why_ you're in better shape than us.”

“I am not in any better shape myself. None of us are.”

“But in comparison to each and every one of us, you pretty much are.” The psycat gaped at Uxie, who then gave an apologetic shrug. “I'm not disagreeing with you on the whole issue here, Mewtwo. I'll admit, I don't know what got over me when I looked in the lake and saw what I have become.” He glanced sadly over at his sister. “What we _all_ have become. If you want something to blame, blame stress. These past few weeks haven't been good to us.”

“So what Mewtwo's saying is that we had lost our survival skills overtime?” Suicune guessed.

He gave an audible snarl. “I swear, you are making this more difficult than it sounds! All I asked is if we are looking for food today, and you backtracked it into something completely different!”

She shrank back. “Sheesh, I'm sorry. I didn't know this was a personal issue.”

“It is _not_ personal! God, you insolent selfish—” Spinning around, he stormed back into the forest.

It was quiet for a minute before Celebi fluttered off his seat. Gazing solemnly upon everyone, he hovered for a different path of the forest. “Anyone's welcome to join me. I'll be needing all the hands I can get.”

Without hesitation, Mew tugged on Latias' hand and the two floated to his side. Latios immediately followed, as did Cresselia, Jirachi, and Manaphy. With a nod and another scan of the other Legendaries, the pixie and the small group entered the trees. Throwing down the rock he was fiddling with, Azelf shot off, his siblings not far behind. The Legendary Beasts, without any consultation amongst themselves, ran after them. Unable to fit into the rivers, Kyogre submerged and swam out into open water. After staring at each other long enough, eventually everyone got up and strolled into the forest. Ho-oh was the last to shake off the paralyzing guilt to join in the search.

When Mewtwo returned a good half-hour later with hordes of berries and roots he had found, he nearly dropped them. The waiting Legendaries turned around to acknowledge him over, their findings in a large mound in the middle.

*~*~*

It was decided they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, not while there was still green in the area, so the outskirts of Cherrygrove was looking to be a permanent residence for the Legendaries. After enough fruit was found, they had gone ahead to start plowing a small garden not too far off to grow saplings and transfer them around the world when they were ready, and for food later on. (Though Celebi hinted it would become an orchard if everything went well.) Any vegetables that were found were immediately ground up for the seeds and planted into the earth. Teamwork was quickly authorized so everyone felt like they contributed to something for the sake of healing the planet. All of them, at some point or another, had to go about the globe and collect seeds and horde any food they came across.

And while those select few were gone, everyone else was busy fixing up the surrounding areas and outward. City remains were cleaned up and confiscated of (except for the useful items they found), bodies were buried, and weak, unhealthy trees were removed to give those that were strong enough to survive decent sunlight and room to grow. There was thankfully rain that still came to help water the still-sprouting crops, so it relieved everyone to know the earth had not forgotten its own needs.

Not counting the arguments and storms that came up every now and then, everything was peaceful. The only thing that was different were the Legendaries' countenances. While enough food and water was found to keep them sustained every day, they could tell they were still slowly withering away, some more than others. They would say they skipped out on meals to work in the fields longer, but while they meant well, the anxiety on their fellow brethren and sisters was great. It didn't help that now they were vulnerable to sicknesses that still plagued the world, though only a few had gotten sick enough for bed rest thus far.

It was noted from time to time that no one bothered to mention anything about bringing forth any offspring. When Ho-oh had been approached on that matter, he had simply stated they weren't ready yet, and that it was still too early to tell if the planet was going to recover. That knowledge kept the few antsy males at bay, much to the gratitude of the females, mainly Mew. In the meantime, friendships were growing in the small group as everyone got to know one another better. What was once a terrible tragedy for the antisocial Legendaries turned out to be successful, having found themselves opening up to the company they were now stuck with indefinitely. Rivalries, while still prominent, were kept to a minimum, limited only to verbal fights, usually unsurprisingly between Deoxys and Cresselia until others were getting involved.

Everyone had been steadily losing track of what the month or day it was until a calendar was found with its last checked-off date being the day before the great extinction. After a week was spent counting off the minutes until each sunrise and sunset, the temperature rise and fall, and having Celebi check the status on the plants, it was concluded they were nearing an equinox.

“Thank the heavens the earth hasn't tilted too much on its axis!” the former Time Traveler sighed in relief. “That could have messed up the entire schedule, and we would have starved when winter comes around.”

“So... when's harvest?” Entei asked.

“Give it a few more weeks. As long as no one pigs out and steals food from the storage,” and he leered warningly at the larger Legendaries as he said it, “we should be able to have enough stored for winter.”

(The Pokémon Center incredibly was the only building intact enough with a still-running freezer they had decided on using even after Regice had said he could handle it.)

The berry tree saplings were getting greener and stronger by the day. It was believed they would be ready to bear fruit sometime at or after harvest, but before winter. So while they waited for them, they helped themselves to the available trees that were still standing, as they bore new fruit every few days. There weren't a lot, but they had been living on them long enough they wouldn't starve to death; a little miracle Celebi couldn't help but ponder on. All the while, to help pass the days away, the Legendaries found ways to entertain themselves to forget their troubles for the moment. These moments, whether dumb or genuine, helped many to smile a bit in a long while.

As was the case one night when Rayquaza had suggested telling scary stories around the fire, only for it to end up as charades that didn't work out very well. Mew had helped start the game and explained the rules to those who didn't know the concept, but eventually everything had gone out of whack. It was once Giratina began picking fights with a few others that the game was forgotten. The feline, by that time, already found herself in conversations with an inner circle of girlfriends and could not care less what was happening, unless it happened to catch her attention.

Mewtwo, as he surveyed from across the flames, was a bit awed at how Cresselia wasn't among the group and was instead with her counterpart. She had curiously been around him in recent weeks, whether in silence, small talk, or engrossed in conversation. It got him interested, yet envious all the same. There was something rather positive going on between the two that he couldn't share with his own. True, Mew wasn't avoiding him as much, but the two rarely spoke to each other. If they ever did, it was awkward and only on the current events, nothing else. He could tell by the way he caught her staring at him that she was concerned herself. It was possible she wanted a chat, just at a different time that had yet to happen.

The clone sighed to himself, shaking his head slowly. Such wishful thinking just wasn't meant to be. Not even he could lie to himself to feel better about it.

“I'll take two guesses as to whom it is you're focusing on,” Ho-oh made himself known as he perched beside Mewtwo. “And I suppose it'd be obvious the first is Mew, but if not her, the second would probably be Cresselia.”

He glanced over with a raised brow. “You sure you are not part Psychic?”

The phoenix crowed quietly. “Ah, I wish. I'm just so damn good at reading people, I could have been a lie detector in a previous life.”

Mewtwo breathed out a chuckle. “Possibly.”

“But unfortunately, I still can't read minds, so you'll have to tell me because I'm nosy.” He laughed again at his little joke. “What's it about them that's bothering you?”

Canting his head to the side, the psycat only gave a small shrug. “It varies. I was just currently thinking about Cresselia's social life with Darkrai. They have been around a long time, but I am pretty sure they should have a better connection than what I am feeling from them.”

A rather sad sigh came from Ho-oh's beak as he looked over at the two as well. “They did, at one point. I had never seen them so happy, and they haven't been since.”

Mewtwo blinked up at the majestic bird. “I had never heard of this.”

He slowly took in a long breath, eyes closed. “It was a few centuries ago when the two started to realize they cared for one another. Better yet, it was like they could feel each other's pains, emotions, and thoughts. One always knew what to say to the other, even if it meant starting a huge argument. They rarely went physical, but they've had conflict for so long, I suppose it was a part of the relationship unconsciously—I can't think of a better way to describe it. Well, once they noticed this, they became inseparable. Darkrai actually came to tell me personally they had decided to be life-mates.”

“ _Those_ two?” Mewtwo gasped, eyes wide. “I can see it _now_ , but... at the time they were?”

Ho-oh cracked a smile at his astonishment. “Oh, they definitely were. I didn't believe him either, but he was serious. Despite all that dark interior, he could never lie. And it all clicked in after they arrived at that meeting together with an intimate closeness. It had a lot of Legendaries concerned.”

That had been back in the day when it was common for Legendaries to skip out. Mewtwo had not made regular appearances until Mew had urged him to go over a century ago. _“I think it's important you start attending more, Mewtwo,”_ she had told him. _“I don't know what's going on, but something is changing in the world, can you sense it? It's not a good feeling, is it?”_

The words barely faded out of his thoughts before the Sky Guardian resumed speaking. “I didn't see them much for another century, so I trusted they were happy. When I did visit them, they had a child ten years before.”

“They _what?_ ”

“Hard to believe, I know. But believe me when I tell you, Mewtwo, that he was the most beautiful child I had ever seen. He was so much like his father, but he had Cresselia's eyes and spirit. A perfect combination, if you ask me. If memory serves me correctly, he called me 'Uncle Oh'.” A quiet chuckle rumbled in his chest, before he fell silent. His voice quieted to a murmur. “That was the only time I saw him.”

Still in shock from the old news, Mewtwo did not like where it was headed. “What had happened?”

The shouts of Suicune threatening bodily harm on her fleeing brothers distracted them for a moment before Ho-oh continued where he left off. “I only saw him the one time because a disaster befell them not a season later. Darkrai was taking him out camping or for a father-son's outlet thing, I don't know myself. All I know is they were in a forest somewhere in Sinnoh. It had suffered from a forest fire a year prior to it, and so the trees were falling apart. He had heard some humans not too far off and told his son to run, that he would be right behind him. He stayed true to his word, catching up after he misled the group away to another pathway. He told him to stop at the worst possible time when a tree decided to crumble that very moment.”

He hung his head sorrowfully. “Darkrai didn't return to Cresselia for a few days, which worried her. When he did show up without the boy... the grief was so bad, half of the continent was plagued with nightmares for weeks before she would do anything about it. By that time, he went into isolation for a few years. Of course, no one knew about it, that was really the whole point.”

Though saddened by the story, Mewtwo was confused as to why the two were now together as such. “Then how does that explain...” He trailed off, nodding his head in their direction.

“She found him so many years later and forgave him, and just asked that they'd be friends.”

He could believe that, given Cresselia's nature. “And Darkrai?”

An uncomfortable pause stagnated between them.

“He has of yet to forgive himself,” the phoenix breathed out, shaking his head. “Had he did, it's possible they would have had another child by now. They never did break that vow, they just chose to ignore it. I do not know if they're willing to renew it, though.”

The long-term silence grew between the two, even to the point all surrounding audience sounds faded into the background. It was hard to imagine Darkrai and Cresselia, two opposites to balance out the other, being together as more than friends. Seeing them with a child was very difficult, yet not improbable. Mewtwo created an image in his head of the boy as a combination of the two: a miniature version of Darkrai with Cresselia's eyes and her spirit—her personality. Try as he might, he just could not see how beautiful he was. It was pretty much Darkrai just smaller and more cheerful. In a sense, it was awkward. Maybe if there was a name to the face, it would look better. That was all he was missing.

Quietly as he could to avoid disturbing the atmosphere, he timidly inquired, “What was the child's name?”

Ho-oh did not answer at first, though it was possible he also didn't hear him, still too in tune with his thoughts. The far-away look in his eye was evidence enough he was lost in a memory. It was rather frightening to see him unfocused like that. Mewtwo hoped he wouldn't have to go through this again.

Then, in a hushed whisper, he slowly replied: “...Adam. Because he was the first kin of Legendary. The first flesh.”

And the conversation was over.

Forcing himself to look away, the clone noticed Mew wasn't with her friends. Glancing around, he managed to spot her heading for the dark forest before the shadows shrouded her from view. A previous thought returned to him, and his stomach clenched. This would be his chance, he realized. They would be alone, he could speak to her freely then. Standing up, he headed in her direction.

“Mewtwo.”

He looked around obediently, locking with the stern gaze Ho-oh was giving him. In the lighting of the fire, his eyes looked more sunken in than normal. “She still has not forgotten about that day,” was his quiet reminder. “Keep in mind your limits so we do not get a repeat of it. No one needs to know beyond what they already know.”

With a curt nod in understanding, the clone slipped away into the shadows.

*~*~*

She had been feeling a disturbance growing ever so steadily for a while now. It wasn't familiar, but at the same time, Mew knew what it was in the back of her mind. It was at its strongest when she slept, swearing it was calling her name. The scariest part of it was the pull. Every time she heard her name—the name her mother gave her—it tugged at her heart. It frightened her. She would have talked to Cresselia about it, but each time she attempted to, her throat would seize up. For reasons unknown, it was like someone was choking her in attempt to silence her.

It was probably from when Mewtwo...

No, she shouldn't think of that. He hadn't touched her since that day. But those _eyes_. What was it about them that was...

Mew shook her head, her ears lowering. God, why was she thinking about him? Why did she have to look over at him across the fire? He may have only been staring thoughtfully (transfixed?) at it while having an inaudible conversation with Ho-oh, it was just that one action brought up so many thoughts she didn't wish to recall. That was why she had to excuse herself. She needed to be alone, to clear everything up so her friends wouldn't get suspicious enough as they were.

Now she was thinking like she was a criminal. What friend would be suspicious of her just because she couldn't keep her train of thought from running off? Why was it that every time she heard his voice or even caught a glimpse of him—

There she went again. She moaned and rubbed at her eyes. “Why can't I get you out of my head?” she muttered to herself.

“Get who out?”

Gasping, the feline spun around, backing away a little at the sight of her clone standing there, staring at her curiously. ( _Wait, was that even the right word for him?_ she caught herself suddenly.) She shook her head immediately, waving her paws around. “No-no-no-no! I mean no one! It's no one, just a something!”

He blinked, tilting his head as he crossed his arms. Mew panicked within her own thoughts. He wasn't believing her. She was doomed, even more-so when she realized it was just the two of them. She had hoped this wouldn't happen. Quickly, she tried to defend herself.

“It's a something that... has been bothering me for a while now.” _Now a smile, convince him!_

Mewtwo glanced down at her sheepish grin. “What is it, then? Perhaps I can help you sort it out.”

“No! No, no, no, I want to figure it out on my own!” She wasn't acting like herself. He wondered if perhaps it wasn't a good time to speak to her.

“You have been sleeping, right?”

“Yeah, I make sure to get a good night's rest!”

Averting his vision away from the awkward smile of hers, he made himself shrug. “Then, I guess you have just been worked up. Unless you were needing some... privacy?”

“Nope, nothing of the sort!”

To be honest with himself, Mew was scaring him a little. She had her moments of hyperactivity, but those days were _long_ gone. From what he had witnessed in Mount Quena, there was no way she would be able to relive those days. His only guess was she finally went mad from it all. He was sorry he even pursued her into the woods.

Sighing, he gave in, feeling they weren't going anywhere. “All right, then. I suppose I will leave you be.” He turned to leave.

Her hands grasped his wrist tightly.

The two stared at each other in surprise, Mew for moving to touch him, and Mewtwo for her closing space. Her heart quickened, as did his. Their thoughts went wild with “what if” fantasies. They felt the numbing electricity run through their arms into their guts, and their mouths ran dry. And whether or not there was a chill in the air, they both shivered.

Slowly, she released him a little, keeping her hands hovering close by. Her eyes danced about his face before she dropped them. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “Yes, Mewtwo, there is something bothering me. It has been... for a while.” The strain of hesitation returned, but strangely not painfully like before.

He nodded in acknowledgment, gingerly pulling his arm away. She didn't make a move to grab him again. “What is it you need, Mew?”

Many responses ran through her mind, some frightening her for even thinking that way. There were way too many to burden him with, and she was sure he could only cope with a few of them. She took in a breath, asking the first question that stuck out to her. “Back then... did you find the children?”

The larvae children. There was something so very wrong about how he wanted to respond, to tell her he had. What if she wanted details? As morbid as it sounded, it was almost natural for someone to ask how another died. He didn't want to make her withdraw into another shell he'd have a hard time breaking through. So he answered with a somewhat-hypothetical question.

“What if I told you they died peacefully?”

It was too late to take it back now.

Her eyes horrifically flashed in the moonlight, a gasp dying in her throat as she backed away. He braced himself when she leered. “How _dare_ you say that,” she snarled. “How could you be so cruel as to say that?”

“They were the most recognizable among everyone else,” he countered. “I believe they were sleeping when the cave-in happened.”

“You don't know that!” her voice raised. “How can you say that when you weren't there?”

“But is that not what you wanted, Mew? Peace to know they had no signs of fear on their faces?”

“I just wanted to know if you found them! I didn't want to know _how_ they died, I already knew that!”

She was trying hard not to cry, Mewtwo could see the shimmering tears making her eyes look like glass in a downpour. His heart constricted at the sight, torn between breaking and opening up to her. He felt terrible for what happened to the young ones, however, the moment he had found them, he knew where they were. It was the same when he discovered the mangled body of Scyther. As upsetting as it was, there was peace in knowing they were now in a better place—they were saved. With that revelation, he had found no reason to shed a tear over them.

But how could he tell her that?

Mew turned away angrily, furiously wiping at her eyes and gritting her teeth. “If I didn't know better, I'd be calling you a heartless monster right now,” she murmured bitterly. His chest swelled at the sentence. “Unfortunately, I've known you long enough to know you _have_ a heart. It was just so broken when I had first seen you, that I couldn't feel it. One of those crappy reasons we even had that damn battle.” She glared down at their shadows. “Once time passed and I came to check up on you... I swear I heard it beat. And then I knew you were like us, you always had been. I apologized, and we had agreed to just be acquaintances. But _somehow_ we became friends. And then... then...”

“Then more time passed,” he softly finished for her, unable to take his eyes off her moonlit body.

A small growl came from her, only less fierce, and she flew off for shelter under a nearby tree. Mew, her skin trembling sensing his locked gaze, reached out to grasp the trunk to steady herself. “I should have known,” she continued to mumble, “I should have seen the signs. I knew you were lonely, Mewtwo, but not like that. I just figured, 'Hey, if I hang around Mewtwo more, he'll stop being so grumpy and more out-going!'” She shook her head, leaning more against the tree. “So our relationship grew—great. Seeing other emotions come out from under all that irritation _was_ what I was going for all that time, so I shouldn't be so surprised about this.”

Mewtwo couldn't help but reflect on those days when Mew was as happy-go-lucky as she could be, with her bubbly laughter and numerous pranks. What should have been embarrassing, irritating moments brought out a twinge of nostalgia. “You sure left an impression, I must say.”

Her anger flushing out, she found herself smiling at the memories, and her voice lightened up. “I never failed to push you to your limits. You could have killed me if you wanted to, you were just way over that. All you wanted to do was just send me far away as peacefully as possible, but you were always so angry at the end of the day.” Mew let out a scoff, head resting on an arm. “God, I was so naïve back then...”

A small smile spread on his lips, a quiet chuckle in his throat. “You annoyed the hell out of me. Literally, I suppose.”

She managed a choked giggle. “Yeah... I guess I did... You started showing the soft side of yourself often, then.”

The clone stepped closer to her, still studying her. “Even so, I do not like to admit to it. I have a personal reputation to uphold.”

“Fair enough...” He smelled the hint of salt before a teardrop glinted when it fell from her chin. She vainly hid her lament when her tone lowered. “And then the world began to change. I knew that if I could feel it, then so could everyone else. Even someone who was not naturally born of this world still could... if he grew attached to it.” She paused to swallow the growing lump. “No one... is created heartless. But a person can be cruel and have no sense of humanity in them, yet still have a beating heart. How is it, then... that they allowed this to happen? Had it been caught early enough, this wouldn't have happened... no one would have had to suffer the way they did.”

Mewtwo watched her move a hand over to touch her abdomen. He wondered if she wasn't feeling well, until he noticed how tenderly her paw laid upon it. It was a curious gesture. “Celebi said it was meant to happen,” he recalled.

Mew only shook her head, back still turned to him. “I believed in God once. When He failed to show up, I no longer had faith in Him and in humanity anymore. I stopped caring... I think my heart had shut down so I wouldn't feel mercy... just for it to wrench itself back to life when everything died.”

She then grew silent, face buried into the tree and hand still caressing her stomach. He had a feeling she wasn't consciously aware of it. Gingerly, he reached out and pried her away from the trunk, turning her around. Her head was down, ears drooped, and the tears dripped freely as she wavered in place, her tail, arms and legs limp. He took notice of her gaunt figure, thankfully not yet to how she was when he had brought her out of the Tree. Gently, he held her chin up, gazing sadly into her watery eyes. She stared back unflinchingly, taking in his own thin features in silent, growing awe. Her vision then dropped onto his lips, and she took in a breathless gasp, darting back into his eyes.

His heart gave the command, and he leaned forward, opening his mouth for her when he was in reach of her lips.

None of them knew what happened next. Mew had seemed unresponsive except for when her eyes closed like she was expecting him, and they had breathed each other in. Either she turned or he did, the end result was the same. Both tensed in place when he grazed a kiss along her jawline, tasting the salty trail the lone tear had left behind.

The open mouth that was ready to receive him let out a trembling whimper, a tiny paw reaching up to grasp his shoulder. His hand holding her chin slipped down to rest against her sternum, feeling the heart waver from the caress. With the other, he reached up into the tree, and snapped off what it brushed up against. Releasing his lips from her skin, he took her by the jaw to face her back toward him. They were close enough for flesh to just scarcely skim together, their mingling hot breaths all that was connecting them.

Mewtwo swiftly licked across his bottom lip to find his tongue was dry. Their noses bumped when he slightly moved forward, bringing another gasp and skipped beat, her body straightening in response. The hand on her chest slipped, feeling an unusual, yet smooth bump along his palm. Her brows twitched as her eyes scrunched, a heated flush rose to her face, but she made no attempt to shake him off. Involuntarily swallowing, the clone moved his knobbed fingers over to cup it in a gentle knead.

Mew squirmed under his touch, biting back a cry. She blindly reached back to claw into the bark, though it brought little space between them. As much as she wanted to push him away and hide herself from him, a side of her that was liking it kept her rooted there. It wanted to tell him how much he got her to burn for more of his embrace. There was a growing want for his lips again, to exchange warmth... to be pressed against the tree with his body.

As intoxicated with his breath as she was, the rosy feline tilted her head to gulp down cool air, though it stung her throat. She opened her teary eyes to cast them to the sky, only for her eyelids to flutter when his mouth brushed against the pulse in her neck. A breath found its way out as a whimper, her hands shooting up to grasp his face before freezing in place.

“N... No...”

It was like a sigh, her chest tightening to halt her gasps. It was so quiet, Mew herself could barely hear it. Mewtwo's hand pressed harder to her breast, inducing her head to toss back when she moved. She felt herself weaken and fall into him in submission, her mind beginning to blank out.

_Mewtwo... please..._

The clone dropped his head to rest on her collarbone, and inhaled her in. He never noticed she, too, smelled like rain much like how she tasted. There was something fitting about her having such a pure theme to her, at how it set off his senses just right. Even now, her movements had rain-like qualities, almost as though she could wash away his uncleanliness that was rising inside him. She could redeem him of his desire within minutes...

...but why was his heart aching so?

Mew still had a grip on him, though he noticed it was loosening, her breaths uneven. Blinking, he glanced down to see he still had the plucked object in his hand, pressed into her ribcage. Slowly, he released her to take her by the hand and brought it to lay on the item, and did the same for her other paw. She was shivering, but kept her teary eyes shut as she gasped through her parted lips. With a slow, quiet exhale, he parted from her, carefully stepping back and waiting for her reaction. She remained in place leaning against the tree, albeit her levitation was shaky. He opened his mouth to say something, whether it was to wish her a good night, to apologize, or to tell her to be careful—but could not bring himself to. Without a sound, he turned his back to her and walked off, scarcely able to shake off a sudden bout of nausea.

The tiny feline hurriedly took in the cool air to chase away his presence, savoring the silver moonlight on her skin instead of his shadow, though she trembled from lack of warmth. Hesitantly, she blinked up at the underside of the tree and the star-lit sky, a wave of dizziness hitting her. With a shivering sigh, she floated down to the ground to recline against the trunk, trying to calm down. He was nowhere to be found, something she was secretly grateful for.

The lingering passion still rattled her body with every breath, triggering a constant burning ache in her heart. It was an emotion she was not used to, and yet upon thinking back to it, it frightened her how much she was willing to take in, and at how easy it was to give in to. If Mewtwo hadn't left when he did, who knows how long they could have been there, and what it would have led up to...

Reaching up to massage her temple, Mew quickly caught the weight in her hands, immediately recognizing the rough skin before it dropped from her hold. Vision wavering, she glanced down at the Lum he had given her, and wept.


	7. The Fall of Mew

“ _As faith for the future faded fast_

_He grows strong with their displeasure_

_It sets him free”_

_\-- “Deceiver of Fools”, Within Temptation, “Mother Earth”_

*~*~*

_When did he begin to love her, the first heartbeat of unadulterated emotion? It was so long ago, he could no longer remember the date or month. All he remembered of it was she was there, just there with him long enough for the right moment to hit him._

_She was always with him. They had contemplated a few times to travel together, but what kept them from doing so was her being the Tree of Beginning's guardian. She was not allowed to stay away from it for very long, a few days at most. It would start to call her back after so many hours until she grew ill from withdrawal and had to leave. While she welcomed his visits, the Tree did not. He had a feeling it never liked him. Mew had tried to convince (even trick) the Tree he was harmless, yet he was rejected every time, sometimes through physical force. When it was apparent he was not allowed inside, they had no choice but to accept that little fact the Tree was off-limits. She verbally apologized about it, but Mewtwo let it go, even requesting that she should forget it and move on._

_Though when he had once asked her why she was so bound to the Tree, she was quick to correct, “I'm not_ _**bound**_ _to it, it's not like I'm a prisoner. We just have a special connection is all.”_

 _He knew she lied. Mew was never excited about answering any questions about the Tree, it always seemed to upset her in some way, but it was in her nature to answer no matter how sensitive the question. It was how he learned only Pokémon were allowed within miles of it. Humans only knew about it from legends as very few had actually seen it, or even stepped_ _**foot**_ _on it. According to Mew, a drop of human blood or aura within its personal space (how she once defined it) would make it defensive, and its white blood cells would rampage until the intruder was disposed of. Mewtwo doubted it tossed them out, but he felt it was best to not know._

_One night, he felt an urge to bring up an inquiry. He heard of it in many cities he visited, but there were so many versions of it, he was not sure what the right one was. Even the signs of it were different. Some were more subtle than others, and then there were those that did not deserve to be mentioned of whatsoever. It was a curious topic he was sure she would know about._

_So he inquired of her, “_ _**Mew, what is love, exactly?** _ _”_

_His suspicions were correct. Her smiles were usually very big and toothy, giving her the impression of innocence. The smile she gave when he asked was soft and dreamy, it matured her appearance greatly; a side of her he had never seen before._

“ _Love has many meanings,” she replied rather happily, a hint of a sigh in her voice (which threw Mewtwo off even more). “Over time, though, people abused it so much, it lost its value and became just another word to throw around. But every now and then, I'd see it used correctly.” Her eyes closed, the smile unfaltering. He could have sworn she became pinker. “But in general, it means to show affection, or that you care for them very much. You would do anything for that person. The three common categories love falls in is with family, friends, and couple relationships, unless I'm forgetting something.” Her lips pursed at the thought, and she frowned briefly._

“ _ **Friendship is love?** ”_

“ _A type of it, yes, but most people don't think about it that way. Possibly because it makes things awkward or something.” She shrugged, giggling. “I don't see a problem with it. I always tell my friends I love them, some more than others.” Mew then looked over at him, and he flustered a little at the sly gaze. “Even my guy friends.”_

_He felt what might have been a blush, one that she duly noted, “Pink looks good on you, Mewtwo.” Quickly, he created space between them, turning his back on her. She only laughed. “I'm just teasing you, get back here!”_

“ _ **No.** ”_

_It only made her more giddy. “Aw, come on, you know I don't bite! Much.” (His eye twitched at the memory.) “I was only making a compliment. It really was about time some color came to your face.”_

“ _ **I have color.** ”_

“ _But not that much.” He felt her scoot closer when he refused to budge. When her tail accidentally brushed with his, it involuntarily flicked away. She didn't seem to notice. “I don't see gray as technically a color.”_

“ _ **Lavender.** ”_

_She blinked up at him with those wide eyes he had promised he would never fall victim to (unless she got them teary-eyed and sparkling, it always worked somehow). “Is it really? You're always in the dark, how was I supposed to know?”_

“ _ **You were not supposed to. I myself do not see it as a 'technical' color.** ” He raised a brow, fighting a smirk. _

_Mew got the joke, but decided to make a big deal out of it. “Hallelujah, the wall made a funny!”_

“ _ **...what?** ”_

_She just shrugged. “Did you want me to call you a gargoyle, or a vampire or something?”_

_Sometimes, he wondered what really went through her head, if her way of speaking ever made sense to her. It always did bother him for some odd reason, so most of the time he chose to ignore it. When he remained silent, she turned her attention back to the city._

_For a time, the two sat there on the roof of the skyscraper, enjoying the view. Mewtwo would lose interest easily and look elsewhere, usually at the stars if they were visible, though there were some clouds moving in, making it worthless. The lights were too garish here compared to the last city he had visited. That was the thing he disliked about large cities—they were too bright or fancy for his tastes, if not either the crowding, noise, or smog. Mew managed to talk him into sightseeing this particular one. She claimed something interesting happened over the city at midnight, but time came and went, and nothing happened. He would have left had she not clung onto him and pleaded with him to wait a little while longer._

_He hated it when she got her way._

_His thoughts wandered again, and he went back to the “love” topic. Her answers made sense, but one still felt like it was never answered. “ **So... if love means to truly care for someone, then what is the meaning of 'true love'?** ”_

_Mewtwo swore she sat straighter than she normally did and froze up. Her tail lay limp behind her, and her eyes looked like they glazed over. “Well,” she started off slowly, “it usually ties in with fairy tales when it comes to a princess being freed from a spell of sorts because a prince kissed her, though I think it's the original way to say 'soul mate'. Personally, I don't see it that way. It's more like a... uh... gosh, I don't know.” She chewed on her lip thoughtfully. “I had the answer when I was young, I just never reflected on it a lot. From what I can remember, it's what you feel in your heart. It probably differs from person to person, but... A lot of these stories always tell you to listen to your heart, that it's always right. And some people have said it as well. So I suppose when you find someone you truly care about, that you'd do anything for, and you truthfully feel you want a future with that person, and you know the two of you will be happy... I guess_ _that's true love.”_

_A flush of embarrassment came on her cheeks when she gazed up at him, her hands wringing in a nervous way. “Sorry I didn't have the answer. I'm not really a big romantic.”_

_He just shook his head assuringly. “ **If it makes sense, you had the answer.** ”_

_A weak chuckle escaped her, and she rubbed the back of her head. “That's true. Thanks.”_

_He couldn't help smiling a little._

_Suddenly, the city blacked out beneath them, and a buzz of clamor reached their ears, as well as a few honking and screeching of tires. Mew relaxed when there were no crashes. “Ahh, something must have happened at the power plant,” she sighed heavily. “I swear, this wasn't what I kept you here for.”_

“ _ **Actually, to be honest, I prefer it this way.** ”_

“ _You're on a **roll** , Mewtwo, cracking jokes and whatnot! You and me, we'd go places.”_

_He had no idea what it was about his statement she found funny. “ **I have a better chance of becoming popular with the other Legendaries.** ”_

“ _Whatever, you know I'm always ri—oh my gosh, look at that moon!”_

_Mewtwo rolled his eyes at her short attention span before looking over to the silver orb above them. It was a favorite pastime of his, one of his many reasons why he chose to wander the shadows. He found sanctity in its gentle light, a familiarity with it. He understood its decision to rise after the sun, the important purpose it held with the world. There was a pleasant beauty to it that could not be captured any other way but with sight. It was a shame very few people chose to look at it, and then only a small handful favored it. That was one of the things he had wanted Mew to understand about in the early days of their acquaintanceship. She had accepted it well, and as time went on, found herself falling in love with it. There were nights they did not speak at all and just gazed up at the moon. Those were really the only times he had tolerated having her around. Any other time he had wished her gone, or just refused to speak to her._

_But somehow, Mew had understood all of that, and they became friends. He would just never admit it._

_The thought made him remember her comment minutes earlier, and he turned red again. Why did she have to say that?_

_He tilted his stare down at her, and he paused in wonderment. There was something different about her that he could not put his finger on. Was it the way she looked up at the moon with a far-away gaze, envisioning herself in a fantasy she would always blabber on about? What about her posture? She looked reverent, more mature being in the presence of such majesty. Or was it the way the lunar rays hit her at an angle where it was like **she** was the one letting off the light from her halo of moonlight?_

_It was like she was Lady Luna herself._

_Mewtwo was finding himself lost in her eyes, the newfound beauty he never knew existed within her. She was far from the naïve being he knew her as. It was like she grew up, a woman if he dared call her that. If only just once, he wanted to reach out and touch her, to know if her fur felt like the warmth of moonlight. But if so, what if she was ethereal as such and only slipped out of his fingers? That thought kept him back, now growing afraid to do so._

_Regardless, he was not afraid to look at her. In a way, it felt like it was more appropriate than to lay a finger on her._

_She then looked over at him, her irises matching the color of the night sky with the moon as her highlights. He lost the ability to breathe, and when she spoke, he drowned in her words. They were not in a language he understood, yet it spoke to his heart. He watched as she drew closer, raising a delicate hand to his face..._

_Lady Luna surprisingly punched like the dickens._

“ _Sorry, Mewtwo, but you were in a trance!” he heard the apology. “I didn't think anything else could get your attention! Do you need your ears checked or something?”_

_The clone groaned, rubbing his face and blinking down at her. The figure was gone, it was only Mew raising a questionable brow at him, backing up a ways. He felt disappointment grow with the space between them. “ **I think you broke my nose,** ” was his response when it throbbed under his touch. _

“ _Trust me, I punched hard enough to give you a bruise.” Her brows furrowed. “What happened to you? You wouldn't stop staring, and then you started to...” She paused, taking in a slow breath. “Was there something you needed to say?”_

_Mewtwo only shook his head as he leaned back, barely noticing the lights had returned to the city. “ **I think I just need more sleep,** ” he bluntly remarked. “ **I have not been able to for a while, actually. I should go to Cresselia about that.** ”_

_Mew looked a little uncomfortable, searching him carefully. He was pretty sure she knew he was not telling the truth. Even then, she did not show it, and only let out the small sigh she had been holding, turning away._

“ _You probably should,” she softly gave her agreement. “Since you mentioned it, I might as well turn in for the night. I'll get cranky if I don't.” She lifted herself from the roof, avoiding his eyes. “Sorry I kept you. I guess it only happens on weekends or something.” With a small wave, she flew off. It was a gesture not like hers, but Mewtwo dismissed it as her being tired._

_Secretly though, as he watched her leave, he wished she stayed long enough for him to explain what had happened. But something in his heart told him she was not yet ready, that he needed to give her time._

_For how long, he did not know. He was just willing to wait for her._

*~*~*

He took his time to wake up, slowly pushing himself off the ground. Mewtwo winced when a slight headache thumped, and massaged his temples as he reminisced. There was something strange about the way he recalled that old memory. For the past week, more than ever, he had been dreaming about Mew either through memories or fantasies. He frankly was a bit grateful it wasn't a continuation of the other dreams he refused to reflect on, though he knew it was something like a prelude to what it would eventually become. He had heard somewhere dreams were a representation of desires, fears, or even warnings. Maybe his recollection of the past was trying to tell him something?

But ever since Mew rejected him, he had been getting rather vivid dreams about that day and beyond. He relied on them too long that he had started to forget the touch and scent of her until a week ago. It puzzled him that despite all that space she had put between them, she had made no attempt to push him away. If he wasn't mistaken, she had waited for him, her shivering could have been that of anxiety. Nevertheless, it was possible she was still in denial about it all, so she had moved at the last second. Or maybe he did, he couldn't remember.

Even so, he knew he could have tried again had their heartbeats not stopped him.

That very moment when they had touched, his bodily instincts were readying themselves, sensing, _smelling_ her own desirous want enticing him. The passionate, erotic exhilarations were present: to feel all her touches, to savor each gasp of breath, moan and cry of pleasure, and to memorize every inch of skin as they cleaved together. Every virginal taste of her body would have belonged to him, to be his forbidden fruit. She would have forever been his under the moonlight.

His heart knew that when their flesh made contact, the intimate closeness still proved too much for the both of them. He never wished to ever force himself on her, he didn't know why he would want to. It was when he breathed her in and had her under his touch that his mind had gone wild with thoughts of what he wanted to do, which had only aroused him more. So hesitantly, against his body's wishes, he had walked away. She gave him her breath and a salty kiss, he thought it would be lasting enough.

Unfortunately, the lust was stronger than he imagined. He couldn't remember if he had ever slept that night trying and failing to keep her out of his thoughts, and if he did, what did he dream about? Whatever it had been, it had since taken a stronger willpower to refuse looking at her for over twenty-four hours as a precaution, having attempted to let everything cool down before he could steal a glance. But try as he could, he had not been able to stop thinking of her, and _wanting_ to see her. Even if he couldn't talk to her, as the two hadn't spoken again nor sat by each other since, he just _had_ to at least watch her do _something_. It was only a matter of time now...

Running his hands down his face, Mewtwo stood up to take a walk, weaving past the others furthest from where Mew was. Still thinking back to that night, he wondered if she did eat the berry he had handed to her as she had not eaten all that day—another reason he threw away his chance (as minor as it was). The possessive lust that ran through his veins didn't catch that, nor would it have bothered to.

From what he was able to see past the dirty thoughts, Mew wasn't looking too good. No one was, in general, but in comparison, she was worse off. He knew she was skipping meals, yet he had a feeling she was also losing sleep. There was that possibility as well she was putting a strain on herself and risking her health to forget that night. He couldn't blame her for wanting to. Lust was an emotion he believed she would never feel in her life when all she knew was love.

Thinking about it further, Mewtwo mulled over if he was responsible for putting those thoughts into her head. After all, a being whose heart never felt a pure emotion could only be corrupted. There was always an opposition to all things, and there was no such thing as a fence-sitter when it came to emotions. If he didn't know love and compassion, then he must know lust and hate. Two powerful notions that if fed more could overthrow their opposites. It was all he had been exposed to for hanging around human societies. When Mew had began spending time with him, her innocent being was like a magnet to his dark heart. Slowly, he sapped from her until there was space enough to transfer his qualities over. Being new to them, she tried to fight them off, but only grew weaker from resistance. It wouldn't be long now before she would submit her will to them.

It disturbed him. He hoped— _prayed_ that wasn't the case. Such dark emotions couldn't have affected her, she was so pure. Always she said, “Love is stronger than hate,” and he believed that. How could it be that his hate was stronger than her? And wasn't he positively _sure_ he expelled it from himself after finding peace?

Something painfully twanged inside, but Mewtwo wasn't sure if it was his heart or stomach. A sharp, quick pain stung through his head, convincing him he should stop thinking about such horrid things. “Get over it,” he muttered to himself. “What is past is past, there is no room for brooding over it.”

Ho-oh had stirred awake some moments ago and was heading for the forest to do his morning schedule. “Hey, Mewtwo,” he mumbled groggily as he walked by. “Sleep well?”

The clone made himself shrug, ignoring the headache to drop his hand. “Somewhat.”

“Good, good...” And he disappeared into the trees.

Suddenly, something sparked to life in his mind, remembering he had been wanting to ask him a question for a while now. Wide awake, he hurried after the phoenix, reaching out a hand to tap his wing. “Ho-oh, before the day goes on any further, I have a thing or two to ask.”

Raising his brows questionably, the Sky Guardian craned his neck to look behind. “What is it you need?”

Mewtwo couldn't lie to himself they weren't rather embarrassing, maybe personal questions. It took him a few moments to figure out how to word the first one. “How... long do you estimate before we start the first, ahem, _procreation_ process?”

Judging by the peeved-off look in his eye, it was possible he was asked that dumb question a lot. “I keep telling you lot that it will depend on how well the planet recovers,” he growled softly. “I roughly estimate ten years or more. Don't ask me again.”

“I apologize that you have been hearing it lately. I honestly do not pay enough attention to anything anyone ever says to you.”

Ho-oh grunted. “'Pology accepted. What's your other question?”

Biting the inner flesh of his lip, the psycat rubbed at his arm. “It... it is about Mew.”

“What about her?” the phoenix nonchalantly said. They stopped by the lake, and he bent down for a drink and to wash his face.

How to word it... there were many questions Mewtwo wanted to know about Mew he would ask himself, but with the both of them avoiding each other, it seemed unlikely she would answer anything. Mainly, he just wanted to learn a little bit more about the species he was based off from. A few questions were buzzing around at one time, so he went with the thought that had been bothering him the longest.

“Well... this is more about her— _our_ species, but... are they, I mean the Mew species, naturally so innocent?”

Shaking the water from his facial feathers and wiping it from his eyes, Ho-oh immediately replied (now that he was awake a little more), “Everyone is naturally innocent, that's what being a child is all about. But there are some who are so sheltered from the general world, they remain in that state of mind longer than others. The Mew species just so happened to have been one of them, at least they used to be. It was when the people who revered them so loyally started learning more about the world and became part of it that they were influenced by it.”

Mewtwo blinked. “People worshiped them?” _Why had Mew not mentioned it before?_

“ _Every_ Legendary at some point or another was worshiped, that was really the only reason we were even _called_ Legendaries.”

“I figured it was for our strength and special attack.”

Ho-oh nodded as he took a swig of water. “That too, but humans are fickle when it comes to that. Anyway, the Mew species were carefree enough they took after a lot of customs of their admirers into their lives, interestingly enough. It's a weird topic, I don't understand it much myself, but that's just what they did. So when their beloved human neighbors were assimilated into the world, so did they. And many of them learned more about human nature than they were supposed to know. It had scarred them, and thus every generation became less innocent as the years went by.”

The clone frowned, not liking where it was going. “Did they... take in the world's customs eventually?”

“Some, but not all. As naturally naïve as they were, they all were very intelligent, and could tell the difference between good and evil. Sometimes.” A slow, grave sigh puffed out of his beak. “Then the boundaries between the two got grayed. By that time, the people who respected them took on the idea of sacrifice, and thought for a time blood of a native human or Pokémon would please a Mew. Those ruins in the Amazon used to be beautiful places until the main room became the sacrificial chamber.”

He paused for another drink. “There's an altar there where'd they lay the person or Pokémon on, sometimes in front of a live Mew. When it was apparent it wasn't appealing to them, they went ahead and tried other Mew in hopes the bloodshed of their _own_ kind was better.”

Sick flutters grew in Mewtwo's stomach. He knew humans were cruel to kill Pokémon, but to sacrifice them as such, even those that were worshiped, had to be too treacherous to be true. “What did the Mew species do?”

“They scattered themselves across the world, of course.” Ho-oh shrugged. “It was a mistake they'd soon regret, as they steadily inched closer and closer to extinction. Mew—the one we all know—was one of the last known to survive childhood, or to even _be_ conceived _._ She was born a little over a millennium ago, which was when it was believed her species finally went extinct. I suppose to help preserve her kind, she was granted immortality so she wouldn't die so easily. A Mew normally lives to be about a hundred or so years, by the way,” he added to the side. “Her mother was probably only ten years into her sexual maturity when she died, fairly young for the species. It devastated her to be left alone like that, but by that time, she had learned enough to survive on her own. The year or two when she reached the maturity age, Arceus gave her the opportunity and she took it.”

“It does not explain her natural innocence.”

He let out a solemn sigh, shaking his head. “Mew lost that when she was originally mortal. She just saw immortality as a way to 'get away' from cares of the world and decided to be happy... Okay, childish, in a way, but she eventually became happy once she went around helping people. But every now and then, she chose to be serious. You already know about that.”

Mewtwo nodded, ignoring the faint shiver running down his spine.

“Everyone has secrets, Mewtwo, secrets they try to hide by being someone or something they're not. With the goal in mind to make the world a better place, Mew figured all she had to do was be happy and be a beacon of hope to those she aided. It worked for a while, but everyone's past haunts them from time to time, and it eventually caught up to her.”

“How do you know all this, Ho-oh?”

In a gesture that bodily said “My God, Mewtwo, you're killing me with these questions”, he simply stated, “She came to talk to me about it no more than a few centuries ago. I suppose she needed someone to talk to without going insane or being judged, so she chose me. Needless to say, it took off a lot of weight on her shoulders.”

“Until now.”

Ho-oh just nodded, then placed his wings on either side of his hipbone. “Tell me, Mewtwo, why are you so concerned about her? Ever since you agreed to take care of her some months back, it's like you've developed a closeness with her.”

Mewtwo couldn't help snorting, brusquely crossing his arms. “If I did, I screwed it up trying to make amends with her, and now she wants nothing to do with me.”

“You want to tell me what happened?”

“Why should I?”

“Because I told you about Mew's background. Might as well cough it up right now.” He then leaned forward, smiling teasingly. “Denial is _always_ the first sign you're hiding something.”

He dropped his arms with a scoff. “Then tell _me_ what it is I am hiding,” he challenged, “because maybe I do not know what it is.”

“Oh, I think you do, Mewtwo. I've seen the way you look at her.”

“Great, now you are starting to sound like Scyther,” Mewtwo grunted, rolling his shoulders back. “What is it with some of you getting on my case about how I _look_ at someone?”

“What Scyther?”

“From Mount Quena where Mew and I stayed at for two months. He said the same damn thing you just said. Worded differently, mind you, but it was the same concept.”

The smile of the bird's looked creepier the broader it became. “And? What did he suspect?”

Mewtwo gawked at him like he had gone demented, in which case he might have some time ago. “This is pointless,” he huffed, turning around to leave. “Why did I even bother?”

Ho-oh stepped in the way, staring him down. “Mewtwo, I don't care if you Teleport away every time I come up to you, I _will_ keep asking you the same damn thing he said until you answer me. What happened?”

For the first time in a long while, he felt uneasy in another's presence. He hesitantly looked back in the phoenix's eyes like how a child would look at his mother after being caught doing a wrong. His throat sealed up when he tried to speak, making him wish he could just tell him telepathically and get it over with. Ho-oh was always true to his word, he was going to keep pestering him about it if he walked away.

Breathing deeply and standing straight, he quietly, but boldly responded, “I committed a forbidden act.”

It caused the brows on the Sky Guardian to rise, but no other signs of movement were seen. “What forbidden act?”

The empty feeling inside pounded against him, desperately telling him to keep his mouth shut. But his heart pressured him on since he said it. There was no turning back now.

“I told Scyther... that I am a hybrid of sorts—half-Mew, half-human.” His stare wavered when Ho-oh briefly nodded. “I said man manipulates other living beings to fulfill their own desires. And as I am not a native-born of this world, I feel there are certain... qualities given to God's creations that are kept from me, because I am of man.” The words were finding themselves easier to come out, it was keeping himself calm that was difficult. He was consciously aware he was trembling in place.

Ho-oh lowered his head a little. “Continue. What did you do to cause this separation?”

Closing his eyes, Mewtwo pursed his lips before whispering, “I kissed her.”

“Speak up, Mewtwo.”

He looked back up, emotion steadily growing in his voice. “I kissed her, Ho-oh. I may have started it and she finished it, but the fact of the matter is _we_ _kissed_. As short-lived as it was, we felt something there. I looked at her, and she looked back at me, and in that moment, something happened between us. It was like I could gaze into her heart, her soul, and see who she was. And she was _broken_ , almost unrecognizable. But she... she was _begging_. What was left of her innocence was dying... dying with her. She was... she _would_ have died had I not... I-It needed me. _She_ needed me. I... I could see it in her eyes... that sadness I just cannot forget. It was so beautiful... I do not want to forget...”

His body shook so hard, he dropped to his knees, tears blurring his vision. “Everything... e-even after what she had nearly become, she was still beautiful. I still continued to watch with the space between us, and then... I realized she had changed...”

What was wrong with him? What happened to degrade him like this? The pride that kept his emotions at bay, to feel when he wanted to feel, was it destroying him? Maybe he just went insane at long last, or was so drunken off his many words, he didn't know when to end. But it felt _good_. His only regret was not revealing this to Mew, to see her reaction to it all. It would have been delicious.

He shot his gaze back at Ho-oh, now so delirious with his emotions, he didn't care nor acknowledge he was spilling his heart out, shouting every word that pierced him greatly. “She is no longer that childish being, Ho-oh! Do believe me when I say that she went through many changes, that she has become a woman! Human concept, I know, but her mindset now is the maturity of a _woman's!_ I see it in her, I _have_ seen it in her, a-and it is the most heavenly thing I have ever seen God _give_ to a creation! And you know me, why are you giving me that look like I went mad?! I am being serious here! You know I have questioned God for so many years, asked Him what purpose I have, why it is He allowed me, an abomination that is to forever be a constant reminder of man's sin, to live. So what have I done to deserve looking into her soul like that when it was not my right? That right belongs to the mate who will take her as his own, and I violated it! She is not my mate, she has never belonged to me, and never will! Yet why do I suffer a lovesick heart where every thought of her sends a coarse amount of emotion through my veins? Why can I not be happy for her?”

Mewtwo took in slow, shuddering breaths, massaging his temple and not feeling relief from it. “Even now... I tremble because of her, especially... after what I nearly did to her. Oh, Ho-oh... had I not been selfless that night, we would have—no, _I_ would have committed a terrible transgression. It would have been all my doing. Had we gone through with it, it would be possible she would be with child, if I even have such an ability. But she would have been _mine_ , I could feel it. And she felt it, too.”

His head then ducked, fists clenching the grass as he attempted to choke back his sobs. “...I love her... so I left her a virgin. That much I can give her. I will love her, but she will not love me... because of what I am...”

_**...she did not deserve it. So why?** _

_During the months she was depressed, all he did was visit and not once did she respond to his presence, nor spoken a word. All she did was stare lifelessly, lost in her own head. He would have exposed her to bright light and she would not have blinked. A few times, he had moved her around, even dragged her outside the Tree, and it was the same reaction. Desperate attempts to bring out some form of response were all in vain, and Mewtwo had eventually given up. He would then wonder why he even cared in the first place, and tried not to think of her well-being._

_Almost an entire year had passed by, and there was not a single day she did not cross his mind. As much as he was pressured by some unseen force to see her, he refused, trusting that others would do it for him. As revealed at the conference, only a few of her closest friends were anxious enough to, and they did little for her. So what possessed him to even feel sorry for Mew?_

_**I only agreed out of self-conscious guilt.** _

_Mewtwo snorted a little at the thought, shifting the berry he still held as he studied her tense posture. The longer he stared, the more he realized she was more than a shell of her former self. It was like she had lost her soul, but her body remained alive. The body was deceiving, the healing lake water only mended the physical being, not the emotional and spiritual scars._

_That was something he couldn't blame her for. Something had happened to her some time ago that wasn't his business. As much as he wanted to find out just by easily probing her thoughts, he respected her privacy too much. She would come to him once she was ready to talk._

_...since when was he this concerned about her? Was it because of their friendship, her acts of kindness over the years finally paying off? Was his view on her different now than it was a year ago? Did she change into a completely different person? Why was he seeing her as broken now that her innocence had been stripped from her?_

_He flinched inwardly at the swarm of questions muddling up, realizing he was fighting with himself over a change of heart. All that time he had denied her friendship was him trying to hide his true feelings. The idea of him, a heartless clone, being friends with her was almost laughable. But the thought of almost losing her because of his pride and negligence disturbed him. Time probably would not be as merciful the second time. If there was a way to make peace with her, he needed to do it now._

_Mewtwo suddenly noticed he had leaned forward, and was paused inches away from contact with flesh. A curious thought had stopped him, asking what he saw in her. What was making this moment different from before? It could be her breath was warm, her lips pinker than normal. Her complexion was returning to a healthier sheen. She was currently in a state of relaxation, slowly releasing her tension._

_**She is a woman.** _

_There was something natural about the way the thought echoed in his mind, like the title was meant for her. And in an odd way, she was one. She no longer had a hint of childlike qualities to her, neither in physique or her aura. She was stronger, but still had weaknesses. She was not a goddess, but a woman. And she was beautiful._

_Almost hesitantly, as the berry slipped out of his grasp, the clone closed space between them in a chaste kiss._

Mewtwo finally let loose when the memory faded, breaking into sobs and allowing himself to cry. “I-I am so stupid,” he croaked. “I did not think it through... but it felt so _right_ at the time! A-And I did not want to disturb the peace... the peace that she was feeling then... she had not felt peace in so long...” His voice cracked, and he gave up speaking, resorting to tears.

Despite her attempts to forget it ever happened, he knew it was bothering her, they were growing mad from it. He admitted it to himself he couldn't get her off his mind, couldn't bring himself to blot out that spark of innocence he brought back to life. Whatever had happened between then and his return to Mirage Island had only caused more dismay. The look in her eyes when they made first emotional contact in a long while was heartbreaking. She didn't mean it, it wasn't even _her_ that bit him. Something else had made her, whether it was from her madness or another side of her brought to the surface. He had been meaning to verbally forgive her for it, her accusation just hit a nerve that kept him silent about it. Touching the area on his arm where he knew the wound had been, Mewtwo secretly cursed Arceus for taking it away from him. Indeed, he wouldn't deny he had become more of a human than he wished to be.

What happened the previous week was so different from their first kiss. He had tried for tenderness, but it was too passionate, even when he missed and grazed her jaw. His much-hated human side had then taken over, replacing the comfort of love with carnal desires. Because of his actions, she came close to losing every virtue she held dear just because he wanted her that night. It had taken all his willpower then to keep from thrusting her against the tree, even after he had felt it rising inside of her as well. Because he obeyed his heart, he suffered a whole day and night's worth of withdrawal from her body like a drug addict breaking a habit. There was no doubt she had gone through the same ordeal. The more he thought on it, the more Mewtwo's heart bled.

Ho-oh, the whole time, silently watched him break down at his feet like a sinner confessing to the Father. It wasn't like him to weep about it, let alone show any other strong emotion besides rage. The situation, sentimental as it was, made him uncomfortable. He didn't know what to do. It just felt... _wrong_ for him to know what was going on in Mewtwo's head the whole week. This was too personal, too intimate for everything to be poured out to anyone but Mew.

Gingerly, he gave his insight, “Mewtwo, you should not be saying all of this to me. I'm not Mew.”

“She will not let me near her,” the clone barely breathed out through his tears. “Not after what I did.”

“You don't know that.”

“I _do_ know that! Have you seen what happens when I walk by without even saying a word to her?! She is afraid of me!”

The phoenix bowed his head a little. “Well, maybe she doesn't know what to say.”

Mewtwo let out a dry laugh. “Of course, why did I _not_ see that before? Mew has grown _shy_ around me, and thus she cannot find the words to tell me her feelings and must only resort to body language. How romantic! It _is_ true that actions speak louder than words!”

“Mewtwo, I have never seen you act this way before, and quite frankly, it frightens me.” He reached forward, and with a little effort forced him to stand. “You are an intelligent being, how can you lower yourself to this?”

“Oh, like many intelligent beings, human and non-human, have not gone through what I am going through,” he snorted, swiping the tears away and sending an accused glare at Ho-oh.

Feathers bristling a little, he reasoned, “Of course they have, it's a part of life! We have been made to be attracted to one another in the idea that one day we may have children! What are you looking at me like that for, did I word it wrong or something?”

Mewtwo's face had cringed sourly at his statement, but he refused to answer. Rolling his eyes, Ho-oh resumed, “Look, the point I'm making is that we all find love at some point in our lives. But unfortunately for some people, they think they may feel for someone only for it to be nothing more than a farce. They use this person to quench their thirst for a body, then move on to something else. They may claim this is love when in reality it's lust. This is more apparent in some more than others, but it happens in everyone. It's up to the person to judge themselves and question why it is they're in love with this someone, what their motivation is for staying together. A relationship can only remain strong if the couple supports one another, to equalize and have good communication with each other. And they must recognize what it is that attracted them together, and hold true to that. Am I getting off topic?”

The psycat shrugged. “You went from love and lust to good relationship advice. You tell me.”

“Oh, for God's sake, Mewtwo, just...” He sighed. “Just go talk to Mew, and don't give me that same emo crap about her not wanting anything to do with you.”

“Why, Ho-oh, did I hear some common slang from you? I thought you were above that.”

The Sky Guardian stood there frowning unhappily at a smirking Mewtwo. “You're a smart-ass,” he grumbled, turning around and heading further into the wood. Then he looked back and pointed at the campsite's direction, “Go make yourself useful and prepare breakfast, or find Mew and talk to her. And that's an order.”

The moment he disappeared into the trees, the clone returned to the site to find only a few other Legendaries had stirred themselves awake. It was disappointing. He noticed Mew wasn't to be found, presumably gone to prepare herself for the day. An unconscious sigh escaped him, which caught the attention of a passing Darkrai.

“What's the matter with you?” he wondered, looking Mewtwo up and down.

He made himself unsure of it all. “I do not know. I suppose I did not sleep well last night.”

The phantom chortled. “Mewtwo, I would have known if you tossed and turned. You've slept better last night than you did _two_ nights ago.”

Mewtwo had almost forgotten that even as a mortal Darkrai still had the capability to feel uneasiness pulsing in the air. He stared back, trying to picture his days with Cresselia and wondering if he could trust telling him about his thoughts. Who better to ask for advice than someone who had been through it all?

But he held back those questions to try brushing him off. “I am all right. I just... had a feeling today was not going to be a good day.”

“Yeah, I felt that, too. The spirits have been a bit restless the past couple of weeks, so I figured something was coming up.”

The feline blinked. “You can still see them?”

Darkrai half-shrugged. “Eh, sometimes. I suppose I lost some of it, but every now and then I'll see them wandering around. Same with Giratina, but since he's been around spirits longer than I have, he sees them more frequently. But most of the time, I just feel their presences.” He then leaned forward, his voice almost dropping to a whisper. “You _have_ been noticing that, right? The world's quieter and less distracting now, surely you've felt them.”

“Why, has everyone else reported that?”

“Pretty much, but only Mew personally told me that she's been seeing glimpses. If I didn't know better, I'd say she has only just seen their auras. After all, when one's learned to control the Tree of Beginning and thus quite often involved with aura, it would make sense she'd see them. It doesn't make her a channeler, because honestly, those people creep me out, but it makes her more unique.” A small grin jutted out from behind the spiked collar. “Maybe with a little bit of experience, she might be able to talk to them. I think she might help save some souls that way.” Without another word, he drifted into the wood.

Mewtwo shivered from the somewhat-awkward impression Darkrai still would leave behind and hurried more into the campground, dodging Lugia's tail when it twitched (he swore he was working on controlling it). The longer he glanced around, the more his insides writhed in his anxiety—wait, since when did he become nervous?—to speak with Mew. He was thinking he would confess to her, but suggest they remain friends, and hopefully this inward battle with their emotions would end. He couldn't bear to see her waste away again over it.

Latias suddenly bolted him from his thoughts when she clung onto his arm. “Mewtwo, Mewtwo, come quick!” she gasped.

He turned to her, frowning at her spilling tears. “What is it?”

“Latios is acting funny! I've never seen him like that before!”

The Eon dragon was one of the few who was up, he just figured he went to wash himself. It was the urgent tone, however, that gave him second thoughts. “Where is he?”

“He followed Mew somewhere over there,” and she pointed north of Cherrygrove. “He kept muttering to himself, and he was all... I don't know, I think he just wanted to talk to her. But from what little I saw, he was trying to catch her, so she ran off and—Mewtwo?” She paused in her hurried explanation to see the clone swiftly disappear into the trees.

It was never a good thing to have a sibling report unusual behavior. It would have been one thing had Suicune said out of the blue Entei or Raikou ran off, maybe even Moltres saying the same thing about Zapdos. To have a well-composed Pokémon like Latios just turn tail like that was a bad sign. And as he was following Mew, no doubt there was something going on. His heart skipped when he heard her yell in fright to the side, and he cut through to a shocking sight.

There was no way to tell how long he had been pursuing her. The trees were damaged, many with bark or branches torn off. One had a hole blown through the trunk, and there were scattered boulder chunks, the cause being their struggle. He arrived in time to watch Latios shove Mew into a tree as she fought back, clawing and kicking to throw him off.

“Latios, what's gotten into you?!” she shouted the moment she freed herself.

A chilling, sinister chuckle escaped from Latios as he turned to grin maniacally at her. “Why, nothing is wrong with me, my dear,” he purred. “I am only partaking in my duty.”

“What duty?” she hissed, slowly backing away. Mewtwo could tell from where he stood she was visibly trembling. “We all have a duty here. What, just because you say yours is the most 'important' gives you permission to go ahead and do it?”

“And should I not? If you have a dream, you go for it.”

“But what does this have to do with anything?!”

“I am preserving the species.”

Her back hit a tree and she swung around behind when he swiped for her. “And you think by raping me you'll preserve it?”

“It is not _rape_ , you are just playing hard to get,” he feigned a complaint.

“Latios, I know you better than this! I mean... you have a _sister_!”

Latios raised a brow. “Your point is?”

Mew clenched her teeth. “Why are you acting this way?” she bitterly whispered. She quickly dodged another jump for her. “Don't make me hurt you, Latios!”

Laughing, the dragon just spread out his arms in welcome. “Go ahead. It will make it easier on the both of us.”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean?!”

He canted his head in her direction, the grin splitting his face. “One must use extreme measures to get what they want.” In a flash, he disappeared. She gave a gasp, barely feeling the breeze behind her before she was slammed hard into a nearby tree, crushed between bough and body. A cry was let out until a hand silenced her, and her chin tipped up when the other brushed the claws down her throat and collarbone, throwing her into shudders and a pitiful whine. He then leaned forward, and darkly jested into her ear, “The difficult, the better.”

Something inside of Mewtwo snapped when he had her pinned. He couldn't figure out what the motivation was, nor the emotion that was there. Barely was he able to contain himself when he sprinted forward, snatched Latios by the neck, and ripped him off her to shove him against another tree.

The Eon Legendary at the same time gave a shout of pain, raising a hand for his head and staring wide-eyed at his attacker. “Mewtwo! What are you doing? Where's the campsite?”

“Do not question me!” he snarled, bashing him again. “You keep your hands off her!”

“Gah, what are you talki—” Silenced once more with another blow.

“You cannot fool me, I saw the whole thing!”

“I-I swear I don't know what you're talking about!”

“You sick bastards are all the same!”

“Mewtwo, will you let me— _ow!_ ”

“Mewtwo, what is _wrong_ with you?!” Mew shrieked from behind, rushing up to pry him away.

Enraged, he spun around and seized her by the shoulders before she touched him. “Why did you not fight him off?!” he hollered, shaking her. “Do you realize what he could have done?!”

Having been caught off-guard, she temporarily lost her words, dreadfully gaping at his darkened face. She spotted the familiar azure flash in his hard eyes, pulsing dangerously in time with his rapid breathing. Her only involuntary movement was a vigorous shake of the head, meaning one thing, but mistaken for another.

Mewtwo resumed his outcry. “He could have raped you, Mew! Why would you allow him to do that?!”

“H-How was I supposed to know he'd follow me?!” the tiny feline wailed, struggling in his possessive hold. “But I swear, Mewtwo, he wasn't himself!”

“Why, of course, Mew, how observant of you!” he jeered, his grip tightening, causing her to painfully gasp. “ _All_ hormonally-stricken males become aroused at the mere sight of a pretty young female and seek out pleasure with her. And a pretty female plus an empty clearing equals a moment of intimacy. They are all the same, are they not?!”

“It takes one to know one!”

He barked a laugh. “Oh, how clever of you! He was set on murdering you if he had the chance!”

“So were you! Mewtwo, ever since we had that one moment together, you've become different!”

“You need to be more specific, Mew, we have had more than one _intimate_ moment together,” he encouraged in agitation, pressing his fingers into her arms at the word.

She shivered under the touch and sharp gaze. “Our first kiss started this mess! At least I did—yes, Mewtwo, I'm admitting I screwed up, I admit to everything! A woman needs to be honest to everyone including herself, and since I was the cause of it all, I'll be the one to end it.” Mew solemnly hung her head, arms trembling when his hands loosened. Her voice then lowered with a sigh. “You didn't mean it, Mewtwo... I believe you. I believe all of it.” Slowly, a paw reached up to touch her throat, inhaling deeply. “I wish I could... believe myself.” Then her eyes locked onto his, watching the light inside return.

The two stared at each other as the tension dropped, the witness of Latios all but forgotten from their minds. Mewtwo dropped his hold on her, his frown deepening as he raised a lone hand to lay upon her cheek. She quivered at the sensitive contact, averting her gaze as a slight blush warmed under his fingertips, taking sudden, uneven breaths. Then she backed away.

“I need to be alone. Please don't follow me. I-I don't know when I'll be back.” She forcibly swallowed any reasons for her demand. Turning her back to him, Mew brought herself to whisper, “You tell Ho-oh he had every right to hear it. He needed to know.”

He barely nodded before she headed off further into the wood. Somehow, he figured he would be stunned she had heard his heart-wrenching confession, but he strangely found comfort in it. Her reaction was different from what he imagined, almost the polar opposite. She had accepted it so easily, he couldn't help wondering if it was bothering her a little, like something was holding her back.

Mewtwo flinched when a small headache stung through, and he turned to Latios, who had remained patiently silent the entire time. He cringed at the bloody welt developing on his forehead, surprised he had gone that far. Pointing for the campsite, he said in an apologetic tone, “Let us get that taken care of before your sister sees you like this.”

Without another word, they left after the Eon dragon patted him on the back in forgiveness.

*~*~*

_**Why did you not spill out everything, hmm? Balance him out.** _

_I couldn't._

_**Was it because Latios was there? If you were alone with him like you were last week, then would you have told him?** _

_Latios has nothing to do with this._

_**Answer me!** _

“What do you want from me?” Mew whimpered out loud, clutching her head as she listlessly traveled through the forest.

_**The truth.** _

“Mewtwo doesn't need to know.”

_**Liar. You forget I know everything about you.** _

“Then you tell me the truth!” she hissed.

 _**Why should I?** _ There was a malicious smile portrayed in the genderless voice. _**If I said you were insane, you would not believe me.** _

Her small body shuddered as she spun around, searching for the source. For the past week, she had tried to keep the disembodied voice at bay until she made the mistake of addressing to it when it disturbed her dreams. It accompanied her since, and it had taken all her willpower to keep from physically talking to it, and even more energy to continue looking normal. Mew couldn't remember when she last slept—well she did, her body had just never felt like it was getting rest during this torment.

“Who are you?” she murmured. “You're not... me, a-are you?”

 _ **Oh no, you are not this cruel,** _ it drawled on as though it was enjoying harassing her.

She felt sick. “Why are you here?”

_**For the same reason you are.** _

“You're not haunting me, are you?”

_**Such a mortal term. But you could say that.** _

A frightened intake of breath caused her to collapse against a tree, clutching herself and struggling to hold back sobs. An icy wave attacked her on both sides as her chest ached hollowly. Her fur stood on end upon realizing it felt like something reached in to stroke her heart. Almost immediately, a mental image of Mewtwo with his hand caressing her breast as he breathed over her neck burst in on its own, which in turn started to numb her.

She shook her head strenuously in unbelief, knowing she didn't envision it. “This has nothing to do with Mewtwo!” she gasped out, staring wide-eyed above her.

 _**So why bring him up?** _ the voice chuckled.

“I didn't, something's putting these images in my head!” The more she shivered, the more passionate and realistic the touches felt against her skin. A moan escaped her lips, head thrown back as his fingers massaged sensitive flesh.

_**You do not remember conjuring these up in your dreams? At what you imagined would have happened had you two stayed?** _

How could she forget? A pitiful, muffled cry escaped her lips when the dream Mewtwo pressed a deep kiss against her mouth, feeling the skim of his tongue slipping in. She twitched against the tree trunk, begging for an end.

 _ **You never stayed asleep long enough to see the end,** _ the whispered taunt continued as mouthed through him, hot breath causing her to shiver in arousal, _**and you refused to since. But now that you are alone,** _ **w** _**ould you like to resume where you left off?** _

The farthest she had gotten before she resisted sleep... his lips had been massaging her body while he slowly guided her to the ground below him. He had fondled her tail tantalizingly, causing her to moan and plead for more. And then, trailing the length, his hand moved upward and brushed her inner thigh...

Her eyes widened and her breath quickened, yanking her paws away to push off against the trunk. “ _I can't!_ ” she exclaimed, speeding down a random direction.

Mew had that unmistakable sense she was being hunted down, she could feel the spindly fingers stretching to snatch her. They followed her every move, easily slipping through trees, bushes, abandoned tunnels and solid rock, inching ever closer. Her mind screamed for peace when her voice refused to, body tiring from being beaten around by vain escape routes and hunger. She started slowing down, ready to admit submission and capture.

Then it abruptly paused its chase, lifting away from her.

She flew on several more feet before coming to a complete stop, crashing to the ground hard. Choking on her sobs and dust with tears stinging her eyes, Mew shakily crawled into the safety of a brown hedge, painfully heaving breaths. She lay there for rest (or death, whichever came first), adrenaline continuing to throb throughout her veins in an agonizing manner. Then as quickly as it came, she suddenly perked up and wriggled out of the brush, staring at the ivy-coated crumbling building before her. Her jaw unhinged, eyes scanning about the occupied space. It wasn't the only artifact of ruin still standing, there was another identical one further away. The graying yellow of the bricks gave it a bland appearance, though the eerie, mysterious atmosphere about it made it more interesting and intriguing. And for some odd reason, she felt like it was calling her.

Slowly, but hesitantly, she lifted herself up and approached the front building, delicately placing a hand on the wall. It was gritty from age, yet still sturdy. With the palm still pressed on the rough surface, she allowed her fingers to skim along when she floated down to the end. Looking around the corner, she gasped lightly at the entrance. The sunlight peeking through the clouds richly enhanced the shadows that spilled inside. More ivy vines tangled around and hung down from their stations, purple buds developing on the entranceway. She inched for the mouth of the building only to feel a strong pull emerge from her the moment she froze beneath the arch. Breath caught in her throat, her eyes widened at the long hallway stretching to a grayed end.

Mew tried to back away, but whatever invisible force was drawing her in had already ensnared her. She locked into her teleportation only to receive a sharp headache from it. Having no choice, she flew inside. The slow descent into the ruin was tolerable only because of the curious hieroglyphics carved into the walls—shaped like tablets, she noted—almost like they were guiding her through with their patterns. Though oddly enough, they looked like alphabets with eyes watching her every move—

She gasped and pulled away her hand before she could touch it. “Ruins of Alph,” she fearfully whispered, glancing around nervously like there was a curse somewhere in the tunnel. “My God... how is this still standing?”

Then again, how was it all the ruins consecrated to the Unown were able to survive this long, to avoid being torn down for human development? Mew remembered reports and rumors about the ruins containing these ancient writings being bewitched or haunted, however, none of them proved to be true. While the occasional person did find themselves lost in the labyrinths of these unique chambers, they all had been led to an exit by unknown sources, a few even claiming Pokémon much like the writing helped them out. So scientists and archaeologists had flocked to these sites for fervent studies and hopes to catch a glimpse of an Unown, and channelers and so-called psychics were called in to communicate with them or open a pathway to where they reside. In time, public demand allowed them to become national parks, and it raked the tourists in. A few greedy people had attempted to make a business out of it, they just somehow all failed to in various unexplained ways (though there was a report one tycoon went insane because of “one-eyed devils”). As much as they liked the behind-the-scenes attention, the Unown would sometimes grow bored of scaring and chasing them away, so they would hide away and come back out after every few decades or so.

Then, one day, they mysteriously vanished. Palkia had brought it up the moment he noticed an unbalance in space; slight, but miraculously still harmless. He visited their home dimension only to find it became nonexistent. A guess was they moved to another dimension or created a new room, but it continued to remain a mystery until their ruins slowly began to deteriorate and fall to dust. One by one, they all became nothing more than a myth, lost with the older, dying generation. The Unown were no more.

Yet somehow, the famous Ruins of Alph proved itself to be resilient to their absence and even eluded human activity. Mew couldn't see how something this large could have gone unnoticed. She knew that once a ruin was excavated, it was doomed to inevitable destruction. So it was virtually impossible for a decimated artifact such as this to remain standing even through the end of the world. Unless...

She had seen the Unown once in her whole life, but they were mysteriously incredible. Alone, a Magikarp could easily turn out victorious. Together, they had a form of ancient power that was stronger than her or any of the other Legendaries. It was believed they were the ones keeping the world in order inside their own dimension. Could it be possible they were still around, taking refuge and hiding away the last of the ruins? The latter thought made her uneasy as she turned and flew for the exit.

An invisible power surge from deep in the heart of the ruins constricted her before she could escape, then proceeded to pull her further inside. Mew struggled to free herself, feeling as though her life was squeezing out of her the more she fought. “No, no! What do you want from me?!” she screamed into the tunnel, half-expecting to get an answer.

Her breath then choked in her lungs, sending her body into icy shock and losing control of her well-being. As she began to sink to the floor, she was wrenched further into the dark ruins. How far along, she couldn't tell, her involuntary asphyxiation drawing her closer to unconsciousness. It was a blessed relief when she was thrown into the tiled floor, the pressure on her chest lifting. She lay there gulping down trembling breaths, hardly aware of the throbbing pain to her head. Slowly, her strength recovered enough to allow her movement without the dizzying effect. Mew cast her eyes about the room she found herself in, jaw dropping.

There was little sunlight spilling into the vastness through crevices in the ceiling, but whatever it illuminated brought a quaint amount of color to the room. The inside did not match the outside walls when it came to age and hue, if at all. Everything looked like no one had stepped foot here in many years, but it did it _too_ well, like it had time to renovate itself. From what she could see beneath the ivy, the walls were a golden orange, every square inch covered in Unown hieroglyphics. Stone statues of Pokémon from ancient times were pushed up available wall, their petrified gazes pointed upward. She brought herself to levitate around to look at them, marveling at the perfect detail and at how there were no cracks or specks of dust on them. In fact, she questioned if they were _really_ sculptures, they looked like they had once been actual living creatures, the poses were so life-like.

As she traveled further into the empty room, the more she noticed it was a simple zigzag labyrinth—if it could still even be called that. Rounding a corner, she found herself in another room. And once inside, Mew held back a gasp, staring at statues of the Hoenn Legendaries. They held reverent poses (even that of Kyogre in mid-jump), all still looking up toward heaven like the lower prehistoric class. The detail was exceedingly fine, like the sculptors took their time to carve out every single scale on Rayquaza and Groudon, every dent and space between rock limbs for Regirock, the perfect smoothness of Jirachi. What surprised her the most was a single pedestal at a corner that held the four forms of Deoxys. Even more-so, it looked as old as its surrounding sculptures.

She shivered, hurrying into the other room where the Sinnoh Legends awaited her there. Brow furrowing, she peeked back at the statue. “It must have been added on some time ago,” she tried to convince herself. “The humans were always trying to appeal to the younger generation.”

Mew sighed softly, then turned back to the other carved images. They were all there, set up against a wall or in the middle. It didn't take much scanning to know every single one was made to direct their frozen gazes to the skies. Even the Arceus statue with one front leg up had its eyes upward, to show even the Legend it impersonated wasn't above the others. After finding there wasn't another entrance, she left, quickly finding herself into the prehistoric room. There was a strange atmosphere in the ruins that was leaving her shaken up since she saw the Deoxys statue. She desperately wanted to leave, to return to camp. Taking deep breaths, she flew for the exit.

Instead, it was the entranceway to another room filled with more statues of the Legends. Gasping, she backed up, looking around frantically for another opening. The rays of light were still bright and numerous enough she found no other rooms except for those she had already visited. Whimpering fearfully, she hesitantly inched into the hall of the Johto Legends. It had to be the oldest room, covered in thick layers of vine and filled with the most light. One beam in particular was bathing a Ho-oh statue in the golden rays, bringing out the realism in it. The one of Lugia was kept in darkness, the sight sending shivers down her spine. Mew noticed the Celebi statue looked to have been the cause of the thick growth, fitting as it was by the wall. The three Legendary Beasts were present in all their beauty, almost the opposite of what they were now. She began to sense a subtle pattern as she moved for the other room.

Not surprisingly, it held the Kanto Legends.

But Mewtwo was among them.

Something was wrong here. Deoxys she could somewhat understand, he had brought world-wide attention to himself that made scientists pursue him for studies. Suicune, Entei, and Raikou were part of Johto's history, even though they didn't come to being until after the Ruins were deserted, but it still made sense they were added on. Mewtwo, on the other hand, was only known to a very select few, and they had all taken their knowledge of him to their graves. He may have accidentally made an urban legend in a city or two, but that was it. No one had gotten a good glimpse of him, so how was it a perfect sculpture of him was placed in a ruin? Maybe she was just imaging it. She had him on the brain for so long, she projected a stone image of him in the middle of the room, infinitely gazing into heaven like the others in all their godly forms.

Wait. There was one that stood out. Her eyes locked onto it, being irresistibly drawn to the oddity of it.

It was her—an ancestor, maybe, or some other Mew, she couldn't tell nor care less at the moment—the stone bust in a dark corner of the room. The detail was still there, the only difference was the head was limp, eyes facing the wall with a blank stare to them. She squinted, leaning forward for a better look. Unlike the other statues, there were no irises carved in, giving it a dead appearance. The pose was still life-like, no doubt the sculptor was talented like that; still, Mew wondered how intentional it was supposed to be. Why would every other sculpture (even that of Mewtwo's) look so hopeful, but this one so cast down? They were all formed to be like gods, yet this was as low as those of the prehistoric Pokémon? It wasn't implied to be her, so why would it appeal to her so well?

She happened to look at the wall the statue was focusing on and notice what looked to be a paragraph, the only writing on the entire wall. The language of ancients peered at her, as though asking her to read them; they knew she could. With the strangest feeling she was trapped here unless she read them, Mew scanned through them, frowning the entire time. It was the most curious thing she had ever read, it wasn't clicking in. Slowly, she phrased it out-loud, fleshing out the words:

“Our words shall remain here for the ages, thus we shall erect a Pokémon statue outside. They possess great insight and refuse the outside world. We humans must learn to walk in harmony with them. We depart for their sakes.”

At once, the hieroglyphics glowed a venomous green, and a stone tail tightly twined around her, cutting off any air for a scream. She barely caught a glimpse of the Mew statue glaring at her with glowing eyes before she was tossed down through a hole beneath her. The moment she hit the floor, it quickly closed shut, torches blazing to life. Biting down on her lip, the feline shakily lifted herself up, looking about the fire-lit room as she rubbed at her arms. The temperature was the first thing she noticed, a deathly chill was in the air (as was dust she determined when she sneezed). The entire area was enclosed in, though a dark hallway behind her suggested there was a way in and out. High above her was the ceiling, the outline she could barely point out in the darkness. On the walls were the tablet-bordered lettering with additional pictures she couldn't make sense of, but thought they were familiar-looking.

Mew froze in place when her eyes grew transfixed on the mural before her, a slow intake of breath finding itself into her lungs. She hadn't seen it in many years, the last one was destroyed along with her beloved home. They all had to be copies compared to it, this must be the original. It covered the majority of the far wall where the most light shone upon, and thus it was the most detailed. She approached it humbly, having found the source of the pull, the fulfillment of a destiny she herself must perform. When she was as near as she dared, she knelt down on a cold altar, her gaze never once leaving the picture.

It was of a great ancestor, the first known Mew that started it all. The people who once worshiped her species held a deep admiration for her, for without her, there couldn't be a broad variety of species. She was the Eve of all Pokémon, respected and revered.

That could have been the reason the one tablet was taken away by the scientists when they had then journeyed into the Amazon. At least one of them had a degree in archeology and knew the importance of it, so they agreed to take it as inspiration, to remind them that she, a normal Mew entrusted with a daunting task, started it all. The Mother of all Pokémon.

But what about the Father of all Pokémon? Where was he? He arguably was, had been, or is in heaven, however, stories of him were twisted over time. She was never taught about him as a child, she had to glean it from passing and her own guesses. But as she knelt there, she had that sinking feeling she knew where he was.

 _Who_ he was.

And who _she_ was meant to be. What _they_ were meant to be. That ability was in their DNA.

_I'm not ready._

A hand strayed across the altar's surface and bumped up against a smooth, wooden object, fingers readily curling around it. She raised it to her line of vision, slightly wincing at the gleam the curved rusted steel gave off. Calmly, she glanced down upon where she rested, taking notice of the dried bloodstains spattered across the surface.

_...even though it's my duty._

The paw holding the knife lightly placed it against her throat, almost on its own accord. _**You will not have to,**_ came a gentle breezing whisper at her ear. _**You can end it. Someone else will take your place.**_

Her eyes closed shut as she swallowed. All the Legendaries came to mind, one individual at a time, watching her worriedly. Some shook their heads, others looked away. She recognized those images as memories, some from months back. Mew leaned away from the blade a little as she looked back up at the mural.

_Who will take my place?_

_**Any one of them can, they will move on without you.** _ It inched back to the skin, lightly cutting it.

She repeated her action, though not without a struggle. _They don't have the ability to alter genes like I do._

_**That is why they have Mewtwo.** _

Her breath caught as he appeared in her thoughts, the sight of sorrowful amethyst eyes warming her soul, wanting to comfort her... to love her. He had tried a few times, but it turned out for the worse. It wasn't his fault. As intelligent and powerful as he was, Mewtwo had no experience except from her. She was the one who reached out to him so many times, it was she who managed to open his heart to more emotions, more opportunities to belong to the world. While he didn't show it, he considered her a close friend. He could never really say no to her for very long. There was no doubt that if she had ever gotten into danger, he would be there to help.

Mew slowly lowered the knife, staring up at the ceiling. Could it be he was trying to return the favor, his way of showing his gratitude to her? Or... had he really fallen for her during that time? Was it possible that underneath all that irritation, he had silently looked forward to her visits? Was she the true source of his peace, the beat of his heart? When did he realize this? Why did she not see the signs?

“Oh, Mewtwo,” escaped her lips in a sad sigh, eyes gently closing. “How long have you loved me?”

 _**You do not need him, and he does not need you,** _ hissed the voice as her hands began to twitch against the handle. _**End it! Slit your throat, pierce your breast, end it all!** _

She shook her head, her arms trembling. “No... I can't...”

_**He has never loved you, it is all pretend!** _

The memory of their first kiss flashed in her mind's eye. “He would never do that,” she insisted, blearily staring at the ceiling. “He would not play with my heart like that.”

_**There is a difference between love and possession.** _

“He loves me!” she gasped out when an arm shot out, the other raising the knife. She fought to regain control of her body, the strain bringing hot tears to her eyes. “When he asked me about love, he wanted to know if he was capable of it!”

_**Wrong! To corrupt emotion, you must know of it first!** _

Mew's pulse quickened when the edge skimmed her wrist, and she wailed, “What's going on?!”

_**This is how much a broken heart bleeds!** _

She screamed out in heartfelt agony when the blade deeply sliced down, the dark liquid gushing onto the altar and floor. A fire seared throughout her arm, shivering in regret. She dropped the cursed weapon to apply pressure to the gash, only for her whole body to tremble in a cold wave of fear. The faster her heart pounded, the more blood poured out.

“ _What did you do to me!?_ ” she shrilled out, doubling over in pain.

A chilling laugh sounded in the darkness, causing her to weep harder. _**What gives you the right to know? No matter, you belong to me now.**_

“I-I _what?_ ” she gulped out in a whimper, and she glanced up through her tears.

On the mural suspended a shadow that held no steady base, but had a hint of what looked to be a humanoid outline. The tendrils shaped to be arms stretched for her, curling around her limbs. When they made contact, she let out another scream, struggling to pry herself away. The freezing touch burned down to her soul, nearly stopping her heart. Another cruel cackle sounded as it dove into her chest, spreading the evil vibes throughout as it started to take over. Out of an impulse, Mew shot up from where she cowered, now having forgot her mortal wound, and clutched her head as she lurched and spasmed.

“No! NO! Get out of my body!” she cried out. “ _Release me, demon!_ ”

Too little, too late, she realized in horror she had let her guard down too long over the previous week. The icy hands grabbed hold of her spirit and forced it down an abyss to give the entity room to fill her body. The shock of losing control of her physical well-being left her fully paralyzed from the agonizing pain, feeling as though she was being ripped in two. With one last blood-curdling scream, Mew collapsed to the floor.

The room went silent for a long minute with exception of the occasional rasp from the feline. Then, slowly, she stirred and lifted the slashed arm to the light of the fire, eying the thick running streams of crimson. Gingerly, she leaned forward and savoringly lapped up the blood, flexing her fingers. A grin flashed across her face as her narrowed optics flared a deep blue.

From deep within her chest, a guttural, victorious laugh echoed throughout the sacrificial chamber.


	8. Apocrypha

“ _Glory shows up, exposes us_

_I'm naked here_

_Forsaken here, by the dark, by the dark_

_Damn the dark”_

_\-- “In the Dark”, Flyleaf, “Memento Mori”_

*~*~*

“Something's not right here.”

“Damn straight. I can see all.”

“ _That's because you're freakin' tall._ ”

“Which makes me question why we let him in anyway.”

“No, I'm not talking about that,” Darkrai scowled, looking behind for the wood. “There's something wrong _elsewhere_.”

Lugia “tch”ed. “You're just jealous because I kicked all your asses—”

“ _Read it and weep, you pansies._ ”

The two dragons angrily threw down their cards, glaring at Deoxys who sat there with a calm, smug smirk. “What the hell?! This is the third time you won!” Rayquaza roared. “You're cheating!”

“ _I don't see how you can cheat at Hearts._ ”

“But _somehow_ you did! There's no _way_ you can shoot the moon three in a row!”

Without warning, the cards caught fire and quickly burned to ashes. The males turned to face Moltres who stood there with wings on hips, Articuno at her side. “I can't believe you guys, arguing over a stupid card game when you're supposed to be working!” she harshly exclaimed, gesturing to the remains. “Just how low can you get?”

“Damn it, woman, that was our only deck!” the Air Titan growled in a threatening tone. “You owe us!”

She scoffed, snapping her head to the side. “ _I_ owe you? What makes you think I do?”

“Because you burned up our cards!”

“Well, we're still pissed about that 'whore' comment. We _still_ haven't gotten an apology from you.”

“I keep _telling you_ , I was poking fun of this poor bastard here. It had nothing to do with anyone!”

“Can you two shut up?” Lugia grumbled, huffing away the ashes. “Honestly, we don't need another Cresselia and Deoxys rivalry here.”

“You're no better,” the Freeze Pokémon snapped, sneering at him. “If I'm not wholly mistaken, I'd say you've been trying to capture attention yourself.”

“I haven't!”

“I suppose that's what happens when you float around in trenches all your life.”

“Look who's talking, you spent your days in the mountains!”

“My reason's better than yours!”

He held up his wings to help back himself up. “You see these guns? Yeah, they don't look like much, but I can blow all your feathers and more away with one flap, honey. You'd be lucky to even _be_ alive when I take wing all of a sudden.”

“Is that a threat?”

Deoxys let out a laugh, elbowing Darkrai in the ribs. “ _Oh, and you think_ _ **I'm**_ _an attention-seeker!_ ” he guffawed, shaking his head.

“That's because you are,” he frankly stated before looking back to the forest.

“ _Am not!_ ” He immediately followed the phantom's gaze, tilting his head a few different angles and scowling. “ _Okay,_ _ **what**_ _are you looking at? I mean, really, I'm seeing nothing._ ”

Everyone looked over as well, mirroring the alien's reaction. Rayquaza rolled his eyes. “You guys are crazy, I'm not seeing anything besides trees. Unless there's something else going on I should know about?”

“Celebi and Mesprit are doing it,” Lugia whispered to the side.

“Nuh uh, you liar, where?! I was expecting him with Mew, maybe even Shaymin, but _Mesprit_? God, what a pimp!”

“There's nothing there, Ray,” Articuno grunted, glaring at the water dragon.

“Dammit, Lugia, you're on my list!”

Deoxys lost it and collapsed to the ground, clutching his sides. Darkrai bit his tongue to keep from barking out something he would regret later on. Instead, he got up and floated away, heading further for the shadows close to the wood. After a quick glance to see if anyone followed suit or noticed his sudden absence, he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Please tell me you can sense it, Giratina,” he muttered. “I don't want to say anything without some backup.”

The Renegade Legendary only remained silent, eyes concentrated further beyond the trees. He had hardly spoken a word nor left his station at all that day, not since he noticed something was terribly wrong that morning. There had been an unknown, sinister presence lurking around the campsite that was keeping the spirits away from the area, but while he couldn't track it for eradication, it was leaving behind negative vibes. Unfortunately (or maybe it was fortunate of them), he lost it just before Latias had made it known Latios had been acting strangely. Giratina had seen Mewtwo hurry off into the forest, and some minutes later returned with the Eon dragon—he had caught a glimpse of what looked to be a goose egg on the latter Legendary's head—then it was noted Mew wasn't anywhere to be found at the camp. The clone had reported she needed to be left alone for a while, which only convinced him further something wasn't right.

Having not received a response, the phantom sighed again. “What do they know that we don't? They know we can see them—somewhat. Why haven't they said anything?”

The ghostly dragon slightly shifted weight before quietly stating, “Mostly because they were selfish bastards in their mortal life. They may be jealous we're still alive.” A soft snort from deep within his throat sounded. “You've noticed that the only spirits still here are the ignorant and self-absorbed, right? All the good ones are long gone.”

“Yeah... but are there others?”

Giratina raised a brow, glancing over. “Other what?”

“You know... _other_ spirits?”

A wing twitched, and he inwardly trembled when a chill went up his spine. “I'm afraid so. They've been waiting, actually.”

“For what, do you know?” Darkrai was afraid of the answer he was going to get. He hadn't felt their presences for so long, it was a wonder none of them had been a victim the whole time they lived there.

“An opportunity.”

“What kind?”

A harsh breath blew from his snout as he turned to the cloaked specter. “They're not picky, you know that.”

Tipping his chin down, Darkrai turned his head back. “Then you might already know of my concern.”

“What concern?”

He shrugged, but gestured behind him. Giratina raised an eye-ridge before taking a look, spotting the group of conversing (and arguing) Legendaries. At first, he saw nothing wrong and was going to choose to ignore him for wasting his time, until he looked again. He frowned, then counted once, twice. There were a few unaccounted for: Celebi because it was his turn with Cresselia to go across the world, Mew was on her walk, and Mewtwo...

...he was there, just further away, not talking and staring out at the trees.

“Have you noticed he's changed?”

_Whoever hadn't obviously never knew him,_ Giratina was quick to thoughtfully note. “To be honest, I prefer his moody, broody self,” he grunted out with a smirk.

“What? No, I'm not talking about that. Sorta...” Darkrai scratched the back of his head. “He seemed a bit anxious this morning.”

“About what, you reckon?”

“I dunno. I figured he could feel the change in atmosphere like we have. Did I ever mention Mew said she can see them?”

The dragon scowled. “Did I ever mention this whole time she's been gone a while?”

“No, but I already knew that.”

“Then that's my answer.”

Glad his collar concealed his lower face, he allowed a sheepish grin to spread. _Oh yeah, he can sense stuff like that._ “Well, uh... what do you think is taking her so long?”

Intentional or not, Giratina huffed out a disgruntled sigh. “You want to know? Whether you felt it or not, there was something here not long ago.”

“What kind of something?”

His eye glinted when his vision slid back to the trees. “Something evil.” The word sent a chill up Darkrai's spine. “I lost track of it around the time Latias said her brother was acting strange.”

The Pitch-Black Legendary laid a clawed hand against his cheek in a thoughtful manner. “I found that suspicious he would follow Mew. I saw what had happened, she came back to the site from washing up just to have him start harassing her for no apparent reason. She left almost immediately, and I chose to go about my morning business, thinking she needed time. When I ran into Mewtwo, I didn't tell him about it, I had gotten so engrossed in wondering why he looked so worried. At least Latias told him, but who knows what happened. They won't talk about it.”

Taking another look behind them, Giratina furrowed his brows upon seeing the Eon dragon laugh, his arm around his sister's shoulders. “Hmm... that _is_ so unlike Latios to go after Mew...” He fell silent to decipher information in his head, then with a stern “Wait here”, he slipped away through the shadows toward the feline's direction.

Amused, the phantom watched as the renegade got close enough to Mewtwo's shadow. After a few moments passed, black tendrils snatched his legs, forcing him (but not without a fight) to stride precariously into the trees. Letting out a quiet chuckle, he followed, arriving in time to see Giratina materialize from the ground and glare down at the clone.

“What the hell did you do that for, Giratina?!” he snapped, returning the leer.

“Interrogation.” It was so straight-to-the-point and bland, Darkrai clung to a tree to keep from barreling over.

Disregarding the laugh, Mewtwo crossed his arms. “You could have asked. I would have gladly gone with you instead of making me look like a jackass in front of the others.”

“They weren't paying attention. And besides, if what Lugia said was true, it wouldn't have been the first time.” After seeing the warning flash, he immediately expressed, “We're questioning you on what happened to Latios.”

He didn't even blink. “Is that it?”

Giratina's wings twitched in a shrugging motion. “What's with the look? Did I miss something?”

“No one else has confronted us on it.”

“Well, we are now, and we want the truth.”

“ _Not_ that we won't be able to tell if you aren't,” Darkrai added. He flinched when he saw what looked to be a movement that hinted he was going to be smacked.

Raising his brows and inhaling deeply, Mewtwo replied smoothly, “Latios was attacking Mew, so I intervened.”

His brows rose. “Why was he attacking her?”

“From what I had heard, he claimed he was fulfilling his duty of repopulating the earth.” He paused when the two Legendaries glanced over at each other in disarray. “Mew, of course, did not want a part in it, but he was persistent. She did not want to hurt him, so it was basically a cat-mouse chase.”

“Since when did Latios get it into his head he was meant to procreate, and with Mew, no doubt?” Giratina mused, frowning deeply.

“Uh... because Arceus said so?” Darkrai manifested hesitantly. “Besides, Ho-oh said himself that until the planet is positively sure to heal, there isn't a need to reproduce at the moment. What makes this odd is that Latios is more of a brotherly type. He's the last person to do this sort of thing.”

Mewtwo solemnly nodded. “However, according to Mew, Latios was not himself at the time.” Much to the pair's surprise, his eyes softened and he hung his head. “I did not notice for whatever reason, I just stepped in without thinking. But I am sure that had I taken the time to...” He swiftly shook his head, visibly fighting off a shiver. “He did not look like he was going to give her up without a fight, so why I easily pulled him off escapes me.”

Slowly, they both gave a motion of understanding. “You must have been enraged to cause him to get that nasty bump on his head,” the phantom said quietly.

“I was... I am surprised he did not hemorrhage from it...” His grimace darkened. “I wonder if he was under some form of trance at the time.”

“A trance? What makes you say that?”

“The moment I struck him, he immediately began questioning where he was, and what was going on.” Mewtwo closed his eyes with a slow sigh. “I could have killed him had Mew not stopped me.”

Giratina then leaned forward. “Since we're on the subject, did she say where she was going?”

“GET THAT _THING_ AWAY FROM HERE!”

The abrupt yell made the three jump and look at each other in concern. It was never a good sign when someone, particularly Ho-oh, yelled for the removal of anything. As they momentarily hurried out into the clearing, they saw nearly everyone had distanced themselves from Deoxys, who was standing in the middle carrying what looked to be a game board in his hands. From the way all eyes were gawking at it and a few shivered in place, it was not a good sign.

“What's going on?” the renegade demanded.

“ _I just found something in town and thought it'd be fun,_ ” the alien scoffed. “ _But everyone's freaking out over it._ ”

“That's because you're holding something dangerous in your hands!” Palkia shouted, pointing menacingly at it. “It's of the devil!”

Deoxys took a quick, perplexed glance at it, skimming the fancy font of the lettering and stenciled art that reminded him of tarot cards. “ _Uh... how?_ ”

“Don't you know what a ouija board is?!”

“ _Oh, is that what this is?_ ”

“It says it right there!” Rayquaza growled. “God, are you so stupid, you're illiterate too?”

“ _No! I just can't read human language. Can_ _ **you**_ _?_ ”

The Air Titan “tch”ed. “Of course not, but everyone knows the name is on the board.”

“Who cares, just get rid of it, Deoxys!”

With a huff, he released his hold on the board to fold his arms. Shocked murmurs and more cringes intensified at the sight of the levitating items; Mesprit let out a frightened cry before she fell into Azelf's hold. “ _Oh, what's wrong with you people? I'm just using my almighty telekinesis._ ” He glanced down at the wooden heart-shaped coaster with a magnifying glass in the middle. “ _You know, they use these to communicate with the dead._ ”

“No, really?” Dialga spat, forcing a crooked smile. “I thought it was a spelling game.”

Ignoring his sarcasm, Deoxys gently laid it in the middle, “hmm”ing in thought. “ _If I remember correctly, when humans did it, they placed their hands on it and asked a question—hey, where are you going?_ ” he called out to a few fleeing Legendaries.

“Far away!” answered back Zapdos, waving a wing.

“ _Whatever. I need a second person in order to make this work._ ” The responses ranged from commanding him to throw it away to obscenities. He easily shrugged them off. “ _You're all a bunch of wimps. You just don't want to have fun._ ”

“Deoxys, there is nothing fun about a ouija board,” Ho-oh coolly expressed. “There are stories of people experiencing terrifying paranormal activity that only results in frightening or injuring the other spectators. It invites unwanted spirits in their vain attempt to 'communicate' with us, to give us false answers.”

He waved a hand with a raspberry. “ _You're no fun. Besides, I was only going to ask a question or two, no biggie. What's the worst that could happen? Don't answer that._ ” Cracking his knuckles, he laid his hands on the coaster, ignoring a tingling sensation that immediately shot through his arms. “ _All right, board, I want a perfectly logical answer from you. We'll start off simple. First off, what am I thinking of right now?_ ”

“God, Deoxys, did you have to ask that?” Suicune snorted, cautiously backing away some more. Her brothers remained in place, stupidly fascinated.

He shushed her, gaze remaining on the board as he waited, concentration etched on his face. Half a minute passed without any activity, which brought a few skeptical Legendaries to lightly laugh it off and lessen the tension. Ho-oh sucked it up to step forward calmly as he could, brows raising. “Well, Deoxys, thanks to your example, I'm torn between saying the spirits aren't responding and that we have nothing to fear because it's a hoax.”

“ _Oh, did you volunteer to be the second person?_ ” he piped up with a smile. “ _It won't work with just one person._ ”

“Give me the damn board,” the phoenix demanded snappily with a scowl. Letting out a scoff, he psychically swerved it before him. Ho-oh went to tug the board out from his hold. “Let go of it, Deoxys.”

With wide eyes, the alien flailed around to remove his hands from the coaster. He went as far as to comically lift a leg to shove it away. “ _Um... I don't think it's letting me._ ” Immediately, the Sky Guardian drew his wings away like it burned him, stumbling back. “ _Hey, what's with you?_ ”

Rayquaza huffed and positioned himself to smack the alien. He raised his arms to defend himself, bringing up the coaster and board with him. “I think he super-glued himself to it,” he grumbled, dropping his tail. “Nice try, Dorkxys, you didn't have us fooled with that trick.”

Deoxys grew nervous, waving his limbs around wildly again. “ _What's going on, guys? Why can't I let this go?_ ”

Uxie pulled away from his siblings to take a closer look. He started to shiver the moment he was near it. “Darkrai, Giratina, are there any spirits nearby?” When they didn't answer, he glanced up to see them nodding, staring wide-eyed at the ouija board. The pixie felt sick inside and distanced himself from the Legendary. “It can't be... is it possible there _are_ spirits wanting to contact us?”

“Deoxys, damn it, we told you to get rid of it!” Groudon growled, inching further away. “I've always _known_ you were a catalyst for disaster!”

“ _How was I supposed to know my hands would stick like this?!_ ” he cried out defensively. “ _Screw it, someone cut off my hands!_ ”

No one said a word as they stared horrifically at the stiffened hands. Mewtwo cast his vision about the group before he took a breath and went forward, paws lighting up in blue flames. “I suppose I will. It is not entirely a 'pay back', just letting you know.”

“ _Yeah, yeah, I don't care about that! Just cut them off!_ ”

Shrugging and giving an apologetic glance, the psycat raised his arms and swiped them down. From the flames came a single, curved blade that automatically sliced through the wrists with ease. The alien barely held back a cry of pain as he stumbled away from the dropped ouija, limbs shaking. The severed hands remained glued to the coaster, grayed blood pooling beneath it. (A thump sounded in the background from where Latias fainted.)

Slightly disturbed, Mewtwo averted his eyes to the now-satisfied Deoxys. He concernedly glimpsed at the bleeding stumps. “You _can_ still regenerate, right?”

“ _Oh yeah, this is nothing,_ ” he grinned, slowly rising to his feet. “ _The other day Giratina got pissed at me, so he poked an eye out. I got it back after a few hours._ ”

“Liar, I did nothing to you this whole week,” the spectral dragon sneered.

He surprisingly shrugged in agreement. “ _Okay, well, it happened so fast, I_ _ **assumed**_ _it was him._ ”

Raising a brow, the feline questioned further, “Why did it take you that long?”

“ _I dunno. S'pose it's because I'm mortal now, so it takes lo—_ ”

He paused in mid-sentence when a scream came from Moltres. He glanced in horror at the amputated hands to see viscous tentacles crawling out of them. They rose and bolted, stretching great lengths to attach to the stumps of his arms. He let out a shout as they reeled themselves in to thicken into skin. He sprouted out a hiss of curses falling back to his knees, trembling from the pain as he tried to regain control.

“ _Oh, God, why is it so painful?!_ ”

“I thought you regenerate painlessly!” Ho-oh exclaimed.

“ _That's different! I hadn't regrown_ _ **these**_ _body parts in years!_ ” Deoxys gasped out when he flinched. The hands had finished taking form, though judging from his cringing, the regeneration wasn't finished yet.

Mewtwo quaked the entire time, sensing a dark presence enveloping them, the strongest point being where he stood. For the first in a long time—if not ever—he was terrified. He didn't know what it was, just that it was _evil_. It put his late-arch-nemesis to shame, and he had been the most wicked man he had known at the time. Standing there long as he did, he felt the fear from the others, though not like how Deoxys was feeling. He was suffering a mortal pain he himself had a taste of centuries ago. Will manipulation was one thing when it was through machinery, unseen entities were another, _if_ it was trying to possess him. Darting his vision down to the board still glued to the alien's hands, he quickly knelt down and pressed his own to the coaster.

Gasps were heard throughout the crowd, but not as noticeable as Deoxys'. “ _A-Are you in_ _ **sane**_ _, Mewtwo?!_ ” he choked out, heaving breaths.

He briefly met his tearful stare. “It must be that desperate to talk to us if it is keeping you from walking away,” he answered. “We have no other choice.”

Beneath their hands, they felt the coaster quiver and slide across the board. Taking a look, Mewtwo just caught the letter “I” before it moved to the “T”. The two had a hard time keeping up with it, and Deoxys ended up whimpering out, “ _What's going on? Mewtwo, you can read human language. What's it saying?_ ”

Once it came to a halt, he muttered, “'It hurts'.”

“ _Sorry, Mewtwo, I don't have control over it._ ”

“No, that is what it spells.” His gaze lifted to Ho-oh. “Deoxys had asked a question about what was on his mind, correct?” The phoenix slowly nodded, unable to rip himself away from where he stood.

“ _Okay, yeah, it hurts_ _ **now**_ _, but when I asked, I was thinking about getting one of you guys to join me._ ”

“Who cares, you just proved to us this game's messed up!” Rayquaza snarled, backing away for the wood. “I'm leaving before it gets even _more_ screwed up.” Nodding roughly, he shot off over the treetops. A few others immediately followed.

Mewtwo closed his eyes and took in deep breaths. “Let us get this over with quickly as possible,” he whispered. Then out loud, he inquired, “What do you want with us?”

With bated breath, the rest of the group watched at the two were jerked around on the board, fighting for stability. It ended abruptly, and he translated, “'Nothing'.”

“ _Bloody hell, is it messing with our minds?!_ ” the alien swore. The coaster swerved to the “no” on one side of the board. “ _The hell?!_ ”

“It says no.”

“Perhaps it's a poltergeist?” Entei suggested, stupidly braving himself to step closer.

“It's not,” Darkrai said, shaking his head. “It's a something, but it doesn't seem to have a physical form to be able to even move it. It can only control animate objects, that being Mewtwo and Deoxys. Their hands, anyway.”

“Well, what does it want?”

Almost immediately, a new word was being spelled as “talk”, which the feline announced. “About what?” Giratina grumbled, strangely planted in place.

Deoxys barked more swears and complaints trying to keep up with the sporadic coaster. Mewtwo remained silent, tensing up when it paused on the “W”. After an uncomfortable moment, it continued its whiplash reaction for a few seconds more. Once it was confirmed it answered, he scowled and questioned, “What about me?”

It slid back-and-forth once more, during which those who heard his remark began murmuring to themselves. Ho-oh, horrified and mesmerized, felt his breath catch as he mentally cursed himself for not burning the board first chance he got, and for knowing the language. He saw what happened, it was going to talk about Mew before suddenly changing its mind. He knew not what a spirit was truly capable of, if predicting the future and revealing the true self of a living person didn't count. All he knew was that he didn't trust it.

Whether predictable or not, both he and Mewtwo silently strung the letters together: “You and her.”

“You leave her out of this,” the clone snarled through his teeth.

“What, what's it talking about?” Regice spoke up in full interest. “Enlighten us, Mewtwo.”

“Who did it mention?” Lugia gasped.

“ _Damn it, I wish I had taken the time to learn the stupid language,_ ” the alien grumbled, strangely beginning to feel left out. “ _Come on, Mewtwo, let me ask a question._ ”

The coaster went to “no” in a flash. Mewtwo, in the meantime, was hardly aware of it and the growing protests as he continued to make contact. “Do not dare bring her into this. Just tell us what needs to be said and release us.” Like it had ignored him, the wooden heart spelled out “Mew” once more, angering him further to the point his arms shook. “I do not want her _involved!_ ”

“ _Uh... Mewtwo?_ ” Deoxys timidly whispered.

“Not now, Deoxys,” he gritted through his teeth.

“ _Really, Mewtwo... I think you need to calm down._ ”

“This is pissing me off, and you are telling me to calm down?”

“Mewtwo, negative emotions are dangerous here!” Giratina hissed, stepping quickly to his side. “Whatever it's telling you, just ignore it!”

“Yeah, ignore it and it'll go away!” Entei tried his hand on encouragement. Since Suicune had left with Rayquaza, Heatran slapped him in her place—lightly so he wouldn't cut his head open.

Growling in irritation, Groudon stomped over. “I've had enough! I'm breaking this damn thing!”

“ _You buffoon, you'll crush our hands!_ ”

“Stupid, I'm going to take the board away _then_ step on it.”

“ _Don't you think we've already tried?!_ ”

Darkrai stepped in. “Then let's try again. I'll do it.” He reached down to pick up the ouija board.

Azelf's eyes widened when a pricking thought suddenly materialized, and he pulled himself away from his sister to hurry over. “Don't touch it!” he yelled.

The cloaked phantom had already grabbed it, and a strong icy current flowed into his arms felt by Mewtwo and Deoxys. He let out a startled cry, then one of such agony that others shivered in terror. Those who were close stumbled away, unsure what to do for him. Like the two, Darkrai's hands were cemented onto the board, a fate that had ignored Ho-oh earlier. The coaster trembled for a moment beneath their palms, then ceased when the screams faded. With his head tilted back, his mouth was now easily shown as an eerie Cheshire grin.

A quiet, steadily-growing chuckle started deep in his sternum, projecting itself triumphantly. “Fools! You think you can get rid of me by breaking such a worthless instrument?”

Voices were caught in throats, and hearts skipped beats. None of them could register the soft-spoken tone of Darkai's within the naturally gruff vocals. And when he opened his eyes, they froze from the look of dark malice in their depths, his pupils narrowed. He cackled, like he was pleased he struck them with fear.

Mewtwo felt an icy sting in his chest when they locked eyes. “At last, Mewtwo, you can now speak to me face-to-face.”

“What do you want?” he croaked out, forcing himself to breathe.

“I want many things, things that were denied to me thousands of years ago because of what I am.”

“And what are you?”

“The epiphany of man. Though ironically, we convinced man we do not exist.”

The clone furrowed his brows, not understanding what he was talking about. “Who are you referring to? Why are you here?”

“You ask too many questions that I am not interested in answering,” he plainly said with a scoff, flicking his head back. “Like it is said, 'All things will be revealed in due time.' Luckily for you, this time has just arrived. Any minute now, you shall be subjected to things beyond your control. It is too late to change Fate when it had already been destined before your birth.”

“What are you talking about, Darkrai?” Ho-oh spoke up in suspicion.

“Silence!” the ghoul snapped with flashing eyes, his head swerving around a full one-eighty.

The phoenix momentarily found his tongue bound, his vision blacked out, and hearing snuffed. Everyone else were too spooked by the sudden and nightmarish sight to notice his distress automatically. It was only when he began flailing around and bumping into Groudon they realized something was wrong.

“Hey, Ho-oh, you okay there?” Lugia worriedly asked. “What happened?”

Darkrai evilly laughed before twisting his head back in place. “He will return to normal when I am done here.”

“You monster, what have you done to him?!” Giratina roared. “What have you done with Darkrai?!”

He ignored him turning his attention to an enraged Mewtwo. “Your reaction is predictable. Not many mortals handle the truth very well.”

“What do you want?!” he barked. “Tell us so you can release Darkrai and Ho-oh!”

The jagged smile froze his insides by several degrees. “Everything that defines you, every single emotion and strength you possess, each breath you take are God-given rights all living beings are freely given. Every spirit is special in their own way. What makes yours so unique is the body it occupies, a body that goes against nature and everything sacred. God did not create your body, man did. As imperfect as you are, you have a purpose in this life, otherwise you would not be here.”

Deoxys felt energy gathering into the clone's hands, and he glanced down to see the ignition of aura around his wrists. “ _Mewtwo, don't listen to him. Darkrai would never say such a thing. Mewtwo, watch your temper,_ ” he hissed out, tensing in anxiety as he tried to lean away.

He hardly heard him, too transfixed in the glare to care for anything else. Whoever or whatever it was that was inside Darkrai's body knew him frighteningly well. He began to fear the worst, but his yearning to know more got the better of him.

“What is my purpose?” he inquired, the all-too-familiar words bitter in his mouth.

The smile grew smug. “You still have not figured it out? How typical. You have been denying it for so long, I find it surprising you have not gone completely insane from it.”

“Get to the point.”

“Why should I? You refuse to embrace it, so what gives you the right to know? But if you must insist, I will say this.” The eyes grew piercing, Darkrai's tongue flicking along his teeth. “It is what you hold dear, Mewtwo, the sole essence of your existence. Without it, you would have ceased to exist in your artificial womb long ago. But had you lived without it, you would be a whole different being today. You would have become just like us.”

In a flash of pink, the ouija board broke in pieces, cracking the coaster down the middle. The impact flung Mewtwo, Deoxys and Darkrai away, now liberated from hostage. Ho-oh was returned to normal in the blink of an eye, scaring himself silly until he remembered what happened. He and everyone else looked up when Cresselia paused before them, sneering at the remains as she dropped a small hoard of food where she levitated.

Turning to the alien, her gaze was of accusation. “What'd you do this time?”

“ _Oh, thank God you came, Cresselia!_ ” he uncharacteristically sobbed, throwing himself around her neck. “ _I thought we were gonna_ _ **die!**_ ”

She tossed him off. “Tell me without the drama, please.”

“ _Fine, I won't tell you,_ ” he huffed, dusting himself off and popping his knuckles.

The swan rounded her attention to her counterpart, confused by his actions. He kept feeling his face and flailing his arms around, blinking wildly. When he finally acknowledged her, he tightly pulled her into a hug as he gratefully kissed her cheeks.

“Oh, Cress, thank you! You arrived just in time!” he wailed. “I don't know how you did it, but you did it!”

Blushing a little, she pushed herself away. “Okay, someone tell me what's going on. All I can get from this is that there was something so very wrong here, I could feel it out near the Violet City area.” Cresselia craned her neck when she noticed Mewtwo hadn't been responsive since she arrived. “Hey, you okay?”

He silently picked himself up, shaking his head the entire time. His body couldn't stop quivering, whether it was because of his building anger or the effect the entity left behind. Whatever it was, no matter what he was going to do, he felt he wouldn't be able to brush it off in a long time. It frightened him how it could see straight into his heart, knowing his every secret fear, secret desire, anything he may have buried long ago in his attempt to start anew. It even hinted at more hidden memories, sources, whatever it was he was not aware of. What bothered him the most, however, were its claims his life would have been extremely different had things in his past—or in events surrounding his birth—taken another path. In recent years, he had found himself barely able to recall the first minutes of his awakening, and he knew little to none at what had been occurring in the lab during his creation.

So what was it referring to?

A hand touched his shoulder lightly, startling him back to reality. Deoxys jumped back in alarm, almost regretting his action. Blinking once, he cast his eyes about the crowd, taking in their worrisome looks, the moon swan especially even though she most likely didn't hear a single word.

He folded his arms, frowning at them all as he fought back a shiver. “Why are you all so concerned about me?”

Like a wave, they all more-or-less shifted in place, unsure what to say about the situation. He couldn't blame them. To break the silence, he asked the first thought that came to his head. “Where is Celebi?”

Cresselia raised a puzzled brow, then remembered. “Oh, he needed to stop by the Ilex Forest for a little bit. Why, what's wrong?”

He briefly averted his gaze. “Nothing really... Did you also happen to see Mew on your way here?”

She shook her head. “Did she go somewhere?”

“Said she went to take a walk,” Latios recalled, a small frown on his features. “That was from this morning.”

The swan's brows rose incredulously. “Maybe she's sight-seeing?”

“What's there to see?” Lugia grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Besides those creepy ruins, what'd the humans call them? Ruins of Arts?”

“It's ' _Alph_ ',” Registeel gruffly corrected. “It's where the Unown live. At least, they did.”

Then deep in the forest, they heard a faint, but familiar scream.

*~*~*

Celebi paused in mid-flight to let out a sneeze. “Oh, great,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “Thanks, Groudon. You sure spread germs more effectively than the others.”

He could just imagine, if he was there, the gargantuan saying some smart-aleck comment while proclaiming it wasn't his fault. And it probably wasn't. There had been a few Legendaries catching colds the past month, though they all knew it was bound to happen. If he was getting sick, he was going to rest and drink fluids once he got back to the campsite, and he'd get better in a week. No big deal.

But were these chills a sign of the flu? Strange how he had suddenly developed them when he was nearing the remains of Violet City. Tempted to eat some of the berries he had found with Cresselia, he went around the area to scavenge for himself, only managing to find a few small ones. They weren't Miracle Berries, but they were at least something for his empty stomach. Still, they couldn't soothe the shivering, which, if he wasn't mistaken, seemed to be getting _worse_.

Suddenly getting the notion he wasn't alone, Celebi spun around, nearly dropping the food when he crossed visions with Mew. “Oh, Mew! Don't do that!” he sighed, massaging his temples. “Almost scared me to death. What are you doing out this far? Gathering food? Sight-seeing?”

No response came from her. He looked up, blinked a few times, then shrunk back a little as his eyes slowly widened. Her levitation was strangely tense, no part of her body was moving a twitch. She only stared darkly at him, a stare that drilled a deep hole in him with slitted pupils penetrating her blue irises. The moment he saw them, his chills consumed him completely.

“Mew...?” Celebi glanced down, spotting the sinister appearance of blood flowing down her arm. “Mew, what happened?!” he breathed, reaching for her hand.

She remained unresponsive as he held up her cool arm for a better look. The gash was still fresh and bleeding profusely, her entire forearm a ghostly white from loss of blood. Beneath his fingers, the pulse was faint. “My God, how did this happen?! How are you even _standing?!_ Say something, Mew!”

Her hand then twitched as claws extracted. He barely released her when she swiped at his face, slashing a deep wound into his cheekbone. The Forest Guardian cried out in surprise, stumbling away and loosening his telepathic hold on his findings. Clutching the stinging area, he scarcely caught the glimpse of a menacing grin before her tail harshly smacked him head-on. The impact sent him crashing into a tree, embedding into the trunk. He pulled himself free just as she sent a strong psychic attack, blowing him further away. Beating his wings to keep himself afloat, he shot a glare her way.

“Mew! What are you doing?!” he yelled, getting into a defensive pose. “I don't want to hurt you!”

A deep chuckle rumbled from inside her, her maniacal grin broadening. “That is what they all say,” Mew purred, rushing forward.

Celebi flitted to the side, spinning behind to hold her back. She immediately delivered a hard kick into his gut, then slashed the other side of his face. She shoved him to the base of a boulder, pinned him with her knees, and smashed his head against it. Black spots popped in his dizzying vision, just barely feeling the throbs of his flattened skull. She then drove her fist beneath his ribs, causing him to cough hard enough to spew blood.

Barking out a cruel laugh, she stated in an odd matter-of-fact tone, “This is my first time inflicting physical pain. Not too different from my share of emotional scarring in the past, which I must say is better than scarring a mortal body.”

He flinched from the agonizing vibes, but went ahead to throw a punch at her face. She caught it easily, then delivered a blow squarely in the jaw, knocking loose a tooth. “But I suppose I can kill two birds with one stone. Some emotional scars _do_ come from physical scars.”

A scream of fright sounded from the side, distracting Mew. Taking a breath, Celebi spat out a single seed pod that stuck onto her fur. Vines sprouted and sunk in her flesh as it tightly constricted, sapping her energy. She had little reaction to it, preferring to keep her eyes locked on the gathering Legendaries stopping in place to stare. Mesprit, who had let out the shriek, was pulled back by her siblings when she saw the injured pixie against the bloodied rock. Mewtwo found his way to the front, breath catching in his throat upon their gazes meeting.

A fanged smirk slowly distributed itself, and she handily spun in tight circles to fling the vines off (taking care to smack the victim with her tail each time around). “Wonderful timing! I was debating whether to slowly torture him, or kill him on the spot.”

“Mew... wh-what is going on?” the clone sputtered out as he stepped forward, casting his eyes between the two of them. “Where have you been?”

A frown quickly creased her brows. “I nearly maul someone, and all you have to say is 'where have you been'?” She scoffed. “And after all that effort I put into it, too.”

He only shook his head. “Mew, what has gotten into you?”

“I should be the one to ask that question,” she snapped out, floating away from Celebi. Her head tilted in her clone's direction. “You are not the same Mew I have had my eye on for years, are you?”

A few held back snarky comments, knowing it wasn't the time for teasing. Mewtwo didn't notice, all of his attention on a neutral Mew since her statement. “What are you talking about? You know I am not of your species.”

“Oh, my dear Mewtwo, of _course_ you are,” she tsked, inching closer as a twisted smile manifested itself. Her hips had a vague sway to them. “You just have so much to learn about your origins.”

Ho-oh then came forward in worry, ready to step between the two. “Mew, come back to camp with us. I fear you are becoming ill—” A sudden psychic wave knocked him off his feet, sending him flying back into the group. Giratina and Lugia caught him when he was passing through.

“Do not interrupt me!” she thundered, irises flashing dangerously. “Do not take me lightly! I have the knowledge of all your weaknesses and how to use them against you! I know how to break through mental walls with ease to scramble bodily instincts or memories! With the snap of the fingers, I can stop a heart from miles away! Do not pretend you have not an _inkling_ of what I am talking about!” was the snarl when more than one showed signs of bewilderment. “Do not even _pretend_ you do not know who I am, I can feel your very souls cower before me!”

She then pointed her glare at Mewtwo, her face darkening as she straightened her spine. “You are no exception, _clone_. The only difference between you and them are your unnatural strengths. Humans made your mind and body more powerful than expected. It is a wonder you even _have_ a soul, you mainly thrive on energy.”

He froze where he stood, feeling exposed before Mew. More than exposed, he amended, it was like she could actually _see_ into him. The eyes were those of another being living in her body and speaking with her voice, similar to how Darkrai was affected. It was looking more reasonable when he noticed a still-bleeding deep cut along her wrist. And the closer she got, the more his inner self protested, sensing the same darkness that had surrounded them minutes earlier. Yards behind her, he noticed Celebi supporting himself against a tree, slowly approaching.

In the hopes it would distract her long enough, he brought himself to speak out. “What have you done with her?”

She paused a few feet away, intentionally or not in shadow, giving the eyes the sense of intimidation as they glowed. The group of Legendaries impatiently held their breaths, some secretly powering up. Mew took her time to complete a nasty smile, jutting her chin out.

“I slowly convinced her to will her own life away.” The smile turned into a toothy grin. “In other words, I traumatized and tortured her soul.”

Her tail tightly wrapped around Celebi before he could touch her, sending an electric shock through the appendage. He screamed in pain until paralysis kicked in, and she tossed him over Mewtwo to the startled group. When he spun back around, she had closed space, pressing her open mouth to his. His body began to shake from the current, forcing him to his knees. His trembling hands reached up to push her away, only for his mind to rapidly blank out, falling limp into a telekinetic hold before he lost conscious.

The few Legendaries who had prepared their attacks fired at the feline in the hopes to knock her out. They collided with the target—or so they thought, watching in disbelief as they were absorbed by an unseen shield. The moment she had pulled away from Mewtwo, she shot them a victorious grin, and blinded them with a flash of light.

When their eyesight returned, they gazed in horror at the empty space the two had just occupied.


	9. Thirty Pieces of Silver

“ _You refuse to see_

_You're denying me_

_The cross I bear, but you don't seem to care_

_Even Judas knew he had lied”_

_\-- “The Cross”, Within Temptation, “The Heart of Everything”_

*~*~*

A droning hum was the first identifiable sound to reach Mewtwo's subconscious, stirring him to alertness. It was strangely soothing, quickly becoming unfocused as natural background noise. It was for this reason he did not want to wake up. He felt he could sleep for a long time, his thoughts would be clear enough he wouldn't have to worry about being plagued by restless dreams—well, he would be if he kept thinking about it. Immediately, his mind switched back to the humming and he relaxed. And yet, there was that small part of him that wanted to know what the source of it was. He was hopeless like that. Since he was already gaining conscious, he might as well take a peek.

The lighting was very dim; the only source seemed to come from the center of the room, pulsating in a steady rhythm in faint colors of pink, blue, and red. Squinting, he could barely make out the shape of a pedestal, possibly half the size of the room. Upon tilting his head back, Mewtwo made a guess the ceiling was way too high. Apart from it all, it looked like he was nowhere in general, but far from the forest he remembered last being in.

His eyes widened the moment his mind clicked in place, flooding with numerous questions: Where is he? How did he get to be there? What happened? How long was he out? Where is Mew? Why can't he move?

Now that he was thinking of it, he tried to shake his arms free from their out-stretched position. He could only twitch his fingers, everything else was stiffened in place. So he moved on to test lifting his legs. It was the same thing, like he was nailed to the floor—or in his arms and his body's case, pinned to the brick wall. He couldn't even flick his tail, almost his entire body was immobilized. All he was capable of doing was slouching, straightening up, and turning his head. Closer inspection revealed he wasn't shackled with any physical objects. Looking at his background, only psychokinesis, powerful machinery, or a high-leveled Dark-type could hold him down.

It helped narrow down to the one responsible for it.

“I was hoping you would be awake.”

Mewtwo glanced up, shivering under the glow of Mew's eyes staring him down. The flashing grin made him shrink. With the dim lighting behind her, she looked more sinister than normal, the Grim Reaper with the scythe for teeth. She uttered a quiet chuckle, using the tip of her tail to raise his chin.

“Did you rest well?” she asked, her tone dryly matter-of-fact. “It is _awfully_ cold in here, I would be surprised if you did.”

“I have lived in many cold places,” he muttered casually, tilting away from her touch.

She was persistent on keeping bodily contact. “Ah yes, you did. Mount Quena was cold, was it not?”

“Not in the summer time.”

“If there was no wind, probably not.” He trembled when she slowly caressed, nearing his throat. “But I trust you kept warm during the night.”

He disguised his attempt at pushing her away as a nod. “I did.”

Mew rested a hand under her chin when she crossed her arms. “Was it a type of cloak? Because I doubt you are the one who handles the sharing of body warmth well.”

A tingle dispersed throughout his body when her tail encircled to the back of his neck. He fought to control himself when it skimmed alongside his cord. “You guessed right,” he nearly gasped out from gritted teeth.

Her eyes brightened when her brows raised, and the bulbous end traced it, covering every inch and sending him into faint convulsions. “Is it _really_ that sensitive, Mewtwo?” she purred, curling the appendage around the external organ.

A hiss expelled before he formed his words. “Mew, you are making a big mistake.”

She just laughed, a little harsh for someone of her size. “You need to explain why. There are quite a few other 'mistakes' I could be making.”

Mewtwo merely shook his head about in a vain attempt to throw her off. “Mew, please stop this act and let us return to camp.”

“You just do not want the two of us alone together,” she whined, smirking all the meanwhile. She closed the space by throwing her arms around his neck. “You are afraid of what will happen when we _are_.”

The clone struggled against her hold, flinching when she tilted his head down so they pressed noses. His gaze gradually became that of fear, unable to escape the haunting stare of her newfound pupils. The longer he stared, the more unrecognizable she was becoming. He recalled the last words she had said just seconds prior to his passing out:

_“I slowly convinced her to will her own life away. In other words, I traumatized and tortured her soul.”_

There was a soul there, but it wasn't hers. It froze his blood the second they made eye-contact, sending his heart into such a frenzy he was sure to drop dead at any second. As frightening as they were, he couldn't tear his gaze away. Forcing himself to breathe, he panted out, “What have you done with her?”

She grinned wildly, digging her fingers into his cheeks when she hoisted herself higher to look directly into his face. (Mewtwo winced when his neck cricked.) “Repetition is irksome, but I shall answer anyway. After all, it is just you and I, alone... in the dark...” She bent her neck to lick his nose teasingly, bringing out a quiet gasp from his throat. “We have nothing to hide.”

He turned his face away, clenching his hands tightly. “Where is Mew?!” he snarled.

There was a laugh before she released her hold on him and gave him space. “Fine, no use in stalling since you figured it out early. This may still be the body of your beloved, but I am a different being altogether.” She bowed in a formal way, peering at him beneath her brows. “The name is Legion. I am a demon lord, one of many, if that is how you want to address me.”

He snapped his attention back to her, eyes wide. “D... Demon lord?”

“Okay, it technically _is_ a misleading term,” she admitted with a shrug, “but I _am_ a demon.” A fanged smirk quirked on her lips. “I am a being trapped as a spirit for eternity because I rebelled against God along with a third of heaven. I have visited many worlds, witnessed many wonders... even caused most of those wonders. Amazing how one motivated person can change the world, you agree?” She laughed quietly, her tail uncurling from Mewtwo. Glancing over at him, she took notice of his perplexed stare. “You do not believe me, do you? Not many do at first. It is hard to wrap your brain around something as complex as my background, especially if you are a skeptic. But well, since I have time to kill, literally and figuratively,” she let out as a mutter, “I suppose I will at least explain why I am here on this world when I could be elsewhere with other people.”

Taking a moment to stretch and move about, Mew's captive flashed him another malicious smile. “I may be a spirit, but I have a personality of my own, so I prefer a few things compared to some of my other associates,” she started in the middle of a twirl. “I happen to enjoy traveling, and since I have no body, I am free to go wherever I please in the universe. I take advantage of it the best I can, visiting other worlds and wreaking havoc one temptation at a time. Humans are fickle as mortals, it is how they are naturally made. You see, when a spirit is far away from home long enough, they 'forget' what it is like being in God's presence. Quite quickly, I may add. By the time they enter childhood, or sometimes mid-childhood, unless they are regularly taught about Christ's Gospel, they become a rather rebellious spirit. Sometimes. Some people are just born good, others are just born rebellious, depends on the spirit.

“As demons, it is our duty to keep them away from the goodness that is Christ. Through small temptations, we slowly but surely stray them away. The best thing about it is that you do it once, and they will explore it further on their own. Sometimes you have to remind them about it, but often they remember that little thought we placed in their heads, and they get curious. Thus, curiosity kills the cat.” Mew let out a cruel chuckle. “What makes this job easier is that we know their weaknesses very, very well. Most of the time, they are unaware of it. But in all honesty, our main goal is to keep people away from their heritage so they do not get the privilege of being gods themselves. They will be shunned forever like we were when we were cast out.”

“I do not understand,” the clone interrupted, slowly shaking his head. “How can you enjoy being this miserable?”

She abruptly slapped him with her tail. “Do not interrupt me! And I do _not_ enjoy my misery! _But_ I cheer whenever God loses a son or daughter to us. My hatred for Father inspires me to go out and damn as many siblings as possible, knowing that if we get our fair share, we will be seen as equals. Lucifer has power, and he has given us shares of it to help him conquer worlds. And he has been successful. He even claimed an earth as his own, and within a thousand years, it became the most wicked world above all others. It was so wicked, surviving records say it even made the earth weep. And though God wiped out that generation with the Great Flood, Lucifer renewed his power back to its glory days. Believe me when I say even other worlds bore record of a world so wicked they killed their Savior.”

Mew paused, her face darkening in a way Mewtwo had never seen it before. “That was the only battle my master ever lost... he was unable to conquer death... It was then my other associates and I realized we had forgotten about the plan that was made in Heaven. God had made a perfect plan, but only death and sin were the flaws. He had asked for a volunteer to be the Savior of the universe, a sacred duty that was preserved for someone willing to keep such great a responsibility, and who has an undying love for his fellow man... just like his father...”

She then growled and took her anger out on her counterpart by smacking him again. “But no matter! We may have lost the power over death, but we still have sin on our side! No unclean thing can be in God's presence, and one blot of sin can keep someone from living in Heaven. How simple is that?

“We demolished that one world Christ Himself walked on into a beautiful wreck, and we were just getting started. From that one earth, Lucifer commanded many other worlds. They were only half as wicked as it, but we still got our good share. Every day, and I am just estimating here, we got an average of about a thousand million souls in Spirit Prison, some more damned than others. Powerful worldly leaders were a delectable treat to get. You think some of the leaders here were bad, you should meet these ones. Some of them were worse. _Way_ worse. Oh, it made Lucifer smile gleefully. They had godly potential, foreordained to do good for the world, and we just snagged them,” she snapped her fingers, eyes gleaming, “like that. Others we tried to get, but by then they already had their mind set on being God-fearing. Lucifer made sure the strongest of us went after them, with a few he went after himself. These were people he hated the most, he _really_ wanted to destroy them before they could ruin his plans for good. He had managed to get a couple, but that is never enough for him. In the long-run, I must say, they came to be on our side, and that is always a pleasure. Watching perfectly good angels fall makes him giddy—why did I use that word? Bah, whatever.

“Anyway, I told you enough history, back to my reasons being here. It is the usual objection of gathering more souls to join our ever-growing side, blah blah blah. But what makes this more unique are not the quantity of souls, but the _quality_. Your world is special for being the home of valiant spirits God had foreordained to be guardians. Perhaps not _as_ valiant as Archangel Michael—stupid pretty-boy—but they are up there. I am certain you can name these guardians off the top of your head.”

Mewtwo slowly nodded, feeling the hints of cold sweat on his brow. “The Legendaries.”

She raised a brow, but did no more than shrug. “In a way. Some of them were teachers, teaching the newborn spirits basic things like emotions, their willpower, knowledge, to name a few. Others had a part in planning what the earth's creations would look like, and they were set apart to these respected creations. In the cases of Dialga and Palkia, they understood well enough the fabrics of time and space, and were given the calling. Same with Giratina before his rebellion. Darkrai's was an accident. He was originally supposed to spread good dreams and heal the nightmares, but he grew addicted to the bad dreams to the point they became a part of him. So to balance him out, Cresselia became the new dream keeper. You may have noticed that many of them are one-of-a-kind, because they were created specifically for that role. The rest of the Legendaries had to earn it in their mortal life, a reward for their hard work.”

“Like Mew,” the clone breathed out, dropping his eyes. “So were the Beasts, Lugia, Shaymin—”

“And you, believe it or not.” Her lips twitched into a small smirk at his astonished expression. “Oh, you did not know? Well, you were a special case. But no matter, you have the genes of the Mew species, thus you are fully capable of having the same abilities as your beloved.”

“I have no such abilities,” he quickly defended himself, shivering in fear. He didn't know if he was lying, but he didn't wish to find out if this Legion demon knew something.

Much to his horror, the smirk widened to a wicked grin. She had kept her distance as she talked, something Mewtwo had taken for granted as she reached for him. “For about three centuries, you have brooded over your existence, at what your purpose is,” she quietly drawled, tracing his jawline with a claw. He trembled, dropping his gaze as cold sweat ran down his neck. “Slowly, but surely, you found your place in the world, and you quietly lived out your life. However, you have always known you could never belong, for you are too different, too unique to be a true Pokémon. So you lived life in solitude, studying humans from afar, while slowly forgetting your origins.”

His hands loosely clenched, wanting her gone so he would not be reminded of his demons. She leisurely flew around behind him and through the gap of the cord, trailing her fingers tantalizingly down his neck and shoulders doing so. “Somehow, you never forgot who you were, always being reminded of it by the mere mention of your name, or through the presence of Mew herself. At first, you were tormented to the brink of insanity at the mere _thought_ of her, so having her close by was near incomprehensible. You wanted her dead so you could prove you were better than her, that you had a purpose in this world.”

Mew then took him by the chin to twist his head in her direction where their noses brushed. “But as time passed, and when you accepted her as a close friend, you realized just how lonely you were. Your clones were half-way around the world with families of their very own. Everywhere you turned, a human couple intrigued you whenever they displayed affection in the open or behind closed doors. Children, even when being complete monsters, struck a nerve inside you, a twinge of sadness. Many Pokémon were never without their own kind, always in the vicinity of constant companionship. But not you. You rejected company in the belief you would never fit in. You were alone, you always were... and you knew it.”

The cold perspiration on his brows trickled down when she pulled him in, her breath slowly tracing over his parted lips as they scarcely bushed together. Her claws lightly raked along his jawbone when she moved to seat herself on his shoulder, triggering tremors up and down his spine. When she spoke again, her voice lowered to a seductive, articulated purr.

“And then, you called her a woman without knowing why. How unusual it is for a Pokémon, nothing more than a creature with abnormal intelligence and abilities, to be called something so _human_. And yet, it felt so _right_. You realized then you were ready to receive her into you, to forever be one. You could no longer deny that yearning for companionship. You were ready... for a mate.” Mew slowly and suggestively licked up his chin.

Fighting back the sudden tears, he finally snapped out, “Release Mew to her body! She is undeserving of this torture!”

She paused, staring at him with a rather far-off look for demonic eyes. Withdrawing her tongue, she mused in fake innocence, “Whatever kind of torture are you implying?”

“The loss of her virginity without her consent. It is all she has left.”

A quiet laugh escaped her as she flew off him. “Is that it? _That_ is your reason? What, you think the loss of a virtue is torturous enough to kill her?” It evolved into a cruel chuckle. “I did not possess her body so she could lose her virginity, there is nothing to worry about.” Her brows then quirked a little. “Well, she _will_ eventually, but she will lose a lot more when I am through with her.”

Mewtwo's eyes widened, and he once more fought against his invisible restraints. “ _What!_ ”

Waving her hands around, she added calmly, “I do not wish to give a whole lot away as to what I plan to do while in Mew's body. But you _will_ be a big part in making sure it happens.”

“What are you talking about?” he whispered hoarsely.

Mew's eyes glinted dangerously as she returned to feel him, running a hand along his collarbone. He squirmed under her touch, provoking her to slip her hand along his pectorals. “The world has died, no one was spared in the mass extinction. You know well enough that God is merciful, He gives everyone chances whether or not they deserve it. He gave this planet many chances, and more often than not they spat in His face. And of course as a demon, I laugh and celebrate whenever that happens, but whatever. Case in point, the world screwed themselves over, and God lost a great many of His children to us.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

“And the other surviving Legendaries? Lots!” She pushed herself away to turn her back on him. “You all were commanded to 'be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.' Well, quite a few months have passed, and there are no babies ready to be born yet. Which is understandable, the world is not yet ready for them.” Her head tilted so she could take a sinister peek at the clone. “However, we all know that this body holds the task of splicing DNA to form other species. Because of that, Mew is highly valuable amongst you all. This is where you come in. In order for there to be children, there must be a male and a female.” With a pleasing sigh, Mew spun back around, clasping her hands and smiling. “And how fortunate of us to have a male _and_ a female Mew on hand.”

Mewtwo scowled, hurriedly correcting her, “I do not have that power to alter DNA like Mew does. I am not a natural pure-blood.”

“A half-blooded Mew such as yourself can still perform this sacred task with a pure-blooded Mew.” She floated closer.

He quickly shrunk back the best he could. “But I am not of this world. I am a product of science, thus my body is not perfect. I do not believe I have the capacity to have children.”

“Cannot hurt to try.”

“I will not violate her body for such a task! She is not even my mate!”

The tiny Legendary halted before his face, and crossed her arms. A brow slowly rose. “Really? You still have no idea what the Mew species did?”

He slouched a little, briefly glancing away. “Ho-oh explained a little to me,” he muttered, not meaning to.

“What does he know? Unless he was a Mew in a past life, he has little knowledge of them. Yes, the worships were true, they were revered as sacred. The humans living by Mew colonies saw them as gods—and goddesses in respect to the females.” Rolling her eyes, she continued onward, “This might have come to pass due to them being one of the oldest living Pokémon species and the most powerful. It is also a possibility they had seen other species being created from them. Or perhaps they were just as human as they were. It is hard to tell, the records have been lazily or poorly translated, and many others were lost. But the one thing we can all agree on is that they worshiped the Mew.

“And then the world changed. Being rather naïve people, they easily adopted any traditions they may have come across, deciding they should assimilate. Around this time, sacrificial rituals to their revered gods were growing in popularity—you can say—so they followed along without another thought. Ho-oh may not have been off when it came to the sacrifices, but he forgot some details. The people sacrificed so many Pokémon, populations were low. Luckily for them, there were explorers, traders, other tribes and the like that were regularly traveling through. They traded luxuries for Pokémon, some they had never seen before. But until then, they were resorting with their own people. Then someone got a _brilliant_ idea: 'Why not sacrifice a Mew to _another_ Mew? Are they not Pokémon too?'

“The Mew caught on very quickly, and they fled for their lives. They began to start small populations in corners of the world, but they underestimated humans. Within months, they were hunted down for more than a sacrifice. They were prized for their fur, as exotic pets or just for show, even as food. Anything you can think of, they did it to the Mew species. Humans paid extensively through the nose to see one alive while others took desperate measures just to _own_ one. You know what the average price for a Mew, alive and well, was?”

Already sick to his stomach, Mewtwo only hesitantly shook his head, wanting to keep his mouth shut. A demented, fanged grin spread before she slowly enunciated the answer, “Thirty. Silver. Coins.” She licked her lips, reaching out to lift his chin. “Guess where they got that number from. Go on.”

He jerked himself free to turn away in refusal, scrunching his eyes shut to trap the rapidly-forming tears. He harshly bit down on his lip, breaking the skin. _Enough, no more!_ he inwardly begged, body trembling in growing sorrow.

“'And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; so they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver,'” she recited as though from memory, smirking while doing so. “Fitting, is it not? Want to take a guess who the present-day Judas is?”

Holding back a sob, Mewtwo gasped out, “Please... enough is enough. I-I do not want to hear anymore of it.”

“Why should you care? You did not have to suffer through it. If anyone should be begging for a stop to it, it should be Mew. She went through this herself throughout her entire life. Besides, look on the bright side, you get to at least _know_ of her hidden traumas.”

“She would have told me if I was _meant_ to hear it!”

“Well, maybe she did not trust you enough. You would not want to trust someone either if they had betrayed you, would you?”

He gritted his teeth. “I have never betrayed her.”

She abruptly let out a long, heartless cackle that echoed hauntingly in the chamber. “How hypocritical. You cannot deny it, it continues to eat away at you. Just admit it, you could not help Mew in her time of need.”

“I tried!” he shouted, straining to break free, feeling the urge to harm the demon. He held himself back only because it was inhabiting Mew's body. It smiled cruelly upon seeing him back down. “I did more than anyone during that time, I stayed the longest.”

“By only a few days,” Legion reminded him.

His heart painfully twinged. “I was powerless to help her. I was finally convinced the Tree would eventually snap her out of it, so... It was a stupid mistake to leave!” he barked out, his anger expanding. “No one bothered to help her, so she nearly died! How she even lived that long is a miracle within itself, but she should have! Had she died, none of this would have happened!”

“Say that again,” she challenged, smirking evilly. “Slower this time so she can take it in better.”

Too enraged to catch himself, he rephrased, “None of us would _be_ in this mess had she just given up! Her death would not have affected the world catastrophically as everyone made it seem. Because if that was true, then why did no one bother to help her? She was not important then, and she is not important now!”

Then suddenly, his heart once again constricted as a strong wave of negative emotions enveloped him. It was one he hadn't felt in a long time, shrouding his thoughts in a familiar cold cloud. His breath was nearly restrained upon its recognition. Blankly staring ahead, he could have sworn he saw heartbreak in large, blue eyes. “...Mew?”

A clawed hand snatched him by the throat and wrenched him forward. His lips were hungrily locked with the smaller feline's, her tongue swiftly lapping up the trail of blood before she pulled away with a wet smack. “It has been said close friends, siblings, and lovers develop a type of sixth sense when it comes to feeling the other's emotions. Do you believe that?” She didn't wait for an answer. “I have been on this world long enough to know that some Pokémon have a strong connection with their mates, quite common with Psychics. It develops over time, and the strength of it depends on how they connect with one another. The closer they are emotionally, and physically in a way, the stronger it is.”

“...Your point is?” Mewtwo mumbled, struggling to pay attention. His mind still reeled with confusion and from the sudden burst of sadness he had caught a glimpse of.

“Well, from what I can glean from this strained relationship, you two have a connection equal to close friends or lovers. Possibly both.”

“So what if we are?”

The dark smile faltered a little in thought. “Are you aware of what the Mew species did to show affection? Though judging by your numerous reactions the past few months, you do not. I am a bit surprised Mew did not make mention of it whatsoever. The only male of her species, the hope for the future, and she leaves you in the dark. Shocking.”

Before he could speak up again, the petite feline resumed matter-of-factly. “Few know of a Mew's mating habits, but surviving records—regardless of what I had said—say a Mew mates for life. _But how do they choose this life-mate?_ you may not be asking. They always had their own tradition, but it was lost in time when they adopted a common human trait that you may know as 'kissing'.”

Mewtwo's stomach twisted, and he shuddered. “You cannot be serious,” he mumbled.

“Two Mew kiss to make a commitment one to another that they shall be loyal to each other even unto death. It has some common equivalents to a human marriage, which true, other Pokémon had similar mating habits. So though they may have had life-mates themselves, the Mew species were the only ones behind humans to practice this as a pair.” She paused, her grin slowly returning to view. “You two have kissed, right?”

He was aware his gut remained in a painful knot, preventing him from speaking out immediately. “Y-Yes... but she—”

“You two _have kissed_ , am I right?” she pressured, clearly not wanting to hear excuses.

“Yes!”

“Did she kiss you back?”

“...she did... she admitted it herself...”

“Then why are you hesitant? Are you afraid you are 'sterile' as you claim to be?” He shifted in discomfort. “It does not mean you cannot do it for fun.”

“I shall not!” Mewtwo exclaimed, startling Legion slightly. “I respect her, and she does not wish to be near me! I cannot take away what is rightfully hers!”

“What is rightfully _yours_ ,” she amended with a smirk. “You have the right to enjoy it when you want to. She will follow, she has no other choice.”

He became locked in a frozen stare, reviewing all that had happened the past few months. If what Legion said was true, he and Mew were mates for life. His heart leapt at the revelation. She was his now, he could get away with not sharing her. They were free to do whatever they want with one another. The law of chastity could now be...

“...no... I cannot. It was a mistake, I do not know what came over me that day, I-I just...”

“She is _yours_ , Mewtwo,” came the insistent repeat. She placed her hands against his face, pulling herself toward him until their noses touched. “And you can love her all you want, however you want.”

He took another long look at what was Mew. The contours of her thin figure contrasting against the faint lights gave the misleading appearance of a devil, though he could now make an exception. It didn't help her eyes were briefly pulsing as well in the dim light except for the pupils. The aura of evil emitting from her combined with the dark look continued to send his body into seemingly endless quivers.

This was not her. She looked nothing like the imposter before him. Her smiles were always pleasing to the eyes, the sunshine of the soul. Her tiny body was the smoothest feature of any other creature, never to age in fear of corruption. The eyes... they were her trademark, her appearance of innocence. The cruelest she had ever been was when it came to her mischievous pranks, and even then she would apologize and everyone would laugh it off. Oh, how could he forget her laugh, it had been so long since she last did.

And then there was her modesty, her virtuous heart. She would never throw herself at him, nor ever announce her willingness to be loved in whatever or however sees him fit. Except for the rare hug (since he couldn't stand them), she was always no less than a few feet away. He had respected her for respecting his own wishes. For all he knew, she may not even know a thing about sex and the works except for its purpose of procreation. She was so innocent, he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if that was true. Love was pure to her, having no trace of any lustful desires.

How was it, then, this deceitful being could easily take over her, to pass off as Mew to make her impure?

Mewtwo could feel a power surge coursing through his veins, replacing the cold emptiness with hot rage. “How dare you,” he snarled, glaring directly into the harsh stare. “How _dare_ you try to fool me into having sex with Mew's body. You know as well as I do that I respect her. The kiss was accidental, I had wanted nothing to do with her then. But I can no longer deny that I love her, I have for a long time. And I _demand_ of you to let her go! I will never touch her again when you do; if needs be, I will never look at her nor think of her! But until it gets to that point, I will do all that it takes to protect her virtue from any and all outside influences, even if it means killing myself in the process! I will do _anything_ if it means keeping her pure her whole life, and to keep her heart from being broken any further! Release her, Legion, and never tempt us again!”

The echoes faded, leaving them in a long-term silence, both too taken aback for an immediate reaction. Their crossed visions never once wavered, bodies remaining vigilant the entire time. The heated passion slowly cooled inside the clone, who was now showing no signs of fear for the first time since being in the evil presence.

Eventually, after studying Mewtwo long enough, the demon regained its authoritative state to muse, “You honestly mean all that...” A pleasing smirk slowly spread, and she gave him his space. “Well, you forgot to list that to forever keep her virtuous, you would have to kill her. But I take it that is not an option.”

The response was a hardened scowl.

Mew just shrugged. “Whatever, your loss. It is a tempting offer, Mewtwo, considering there is a lot at stake here—and that I always keep promises—but I am going to need more time to think about it. I may have to pull an all-nighter, not that I mind. You, on the other hand, are too stubborn at the moment. Why not sleep on it? You will be less cranky in the morning.”

“I will never rest until Mew is safe,” the clone growled.

Her smirk cracked into a toothy grin. “I do not blame you for not believing me. Well, good luck with that, mortal. First thing in the morning, I will have my response. Fair warning: we demons may come with a proposition. You should sleep if you do not think your tired mind can pick it out. I especially recommend it with your current exhausted state.”

Mewtwo watched her melt into the darkness, feeling the beginnings of a drained body. He found himself wondering how long he was there for, both being unconscious and conversing with the demon lord. It was a random thought, probably meant as a distraction to keep his mind off Mew. The longer he struggled to think of her, the more there was a demand for sleep. So he gave up trying to hold himself straight against the invisible restraints, and attempted to meditate.

He couldn't remember anything else afterwards except for the faint knowledge he was still worried about his counterpart's well-being.


	10. Mewtwo's Seduction

“ _...how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”_

_\-- Genesis 39:9_

*~*~*

Sunlight was the first thing Mewtwo noticed upon waking up, followed by an itchy feeling on his back. Urging his stiff body to roll over, his hand flopped onto a rough, pointed surface, and immediately his eyes snapped open. Grimacing, he shot up, staring at the palm that had been stuck with a sharp rock, which he flicked off. Yawning and stretching, he blinked away the sleep and took a look at his surroundings. He glanced down at the bed of leaves and then really looked around.

He was under a large recovering tree, the time he guessed being noontime. Before him was a rather empty area except for what were recognizable buildings, or what remained of them, and some piles of junk from said-buildings. Patches of green hues were scattered among the desolation, a few dotted with shades of red and pink. All that remained of Cherrygrove, and how clean it has been getting—

Wait, what was he doing so far in Cherrygrove?

Standing up, he leaned against the trunk, feeling a little vertigo from what remained of the sleep and some confusion. When did _that_ happen? He didn't remember ever stepping foot in the town, or even thinking about doing anything there. The last he could recall was waiting for Mew to return from her walk. And everyone was talking about something pointless such as Rayquaza's short-lived eating spree or something like that (which he had wanted no part of, so it could explain everyone's absences). He only remembered thinking about her, hoping she'd return safe.

Mewtwo frowned. There was something more to it, wasn't there? There was a rather blank spot in his memory. He could hope it wasn't from a drinking game—not that he would participate in one. Watching the others pass out was more entertaining in his opinion, and Mew would have killed him for drinking anyway.

Wait... since when have they done drinking games?

Getting a little disturbed over it all, the psycat hurried for the campsite's direction, catching indecipherable dialogue from what may have been an arguing Deoxys. Getting closer, he groaned at hearing he was fighting with Cresselia again. On second thought, there were still a few things left to do in Cherrygrove's ruins. He might as well go ahead and do that while he was thinking about it. He spun back around.

“Hey, Mewtwo!” Entei greeted loudly, popping out from behind a bush. “About time y—”

He was punched in the face.

“OW, WHAT'D I DO?!” the beast wailed, curling up on the ground and covering his nose—or lack thereof.

Realizing what he just did, the clone quickly apologized. “You startled me,” he admitted, helping him to his feet. “What were you doing in there?”

“The usual.” (Mewtwo winced.) “I'm berry-gathering for lunch. One rolled in there somewhere. It's like a black hole or something.” His face twitched and scrunched. “What about you?”

“I just got up—”

“Ah, good afternoon, Mewtwo!” Ho-oh called out, walking over to him and Entei, followed by the other Legendaries. “It's a relief to see you're up and about. We were growing a bit concerned.”

Blinking several times in puzzlement, the feline couldn't help but stare. It wasn't normal for everyone to show up just to see him. Even though it did make a little sense with the word “concerned” involved, what it was they were _concerned_ about was what threw him off. Raising a hand to his temple, he asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Figures you wouldn't know,” the phoenix said with a smile. “You must've had the twenty-four-hour bug or something, though why you would pass out from it is beyond us.”

He tilted his head. “What?”

“Though Celebi suspected it was the flu, but since you're up and about, guess it wasn't,” the Sky Guardian continued liked he didn't hear Mewtwo. “Well anyway, Mew brought you back and stayed by your side the rest of the day. Speaking of which, where did she go?”

“Said something about a Miracle Berry or along the lines of it,” Latios replied. “She was sure one was growing not far from Ecruteak City.”

Mewtwo's heart had skipped at the mention of her name that he hardly heard the comment. Without a word, he quickly disappeared into the wood, ignoring the weird stares he was being given. He couldn't care at the moment, all that mattered to him was his counterpart being well and safe. Despite not knowing what Ho-oh had been talking about, he didn't deny that it may have been true. Perhaps Mew had been gone for too long, so he had gone to look for her, but had turned out to be a little ill that day. Who knows, and who really cared?

...he slowed down, pondering about it all. Since when did he not care about it? No, better yet, why was he so distracted? Once Mew's name was mentioned, it clicked into place, and she was all he could care about at that moment. And since he hadn't seen her in a whole day—according to them—he was a little more determined to see her again, wanting to know her thoughts from yesterday. It had been a bit harsh, he suddenly remembered, though why it was still escaped him. He figured it was a big deal for her to be gone for that long.

“Mewtwo?”

His head snapped up at his name, meeting her eyes yards away. It was like she hadn't been expecting to see him here, but she only stared back in small surprise. She was empty-handed; she must have not found anything for him. His chest lightened up at the thought, his facial features relaxing. _For him._ She cared after all.

“Good afternoon, Mew,” he addressed, giving her a smile.

She fidgeted in place, a faint blush apparent on her cheeks. “Afternoon,” she muttered, quickly glancing away. “Glad to see you're up.”

They shared an awkward silence for a moment, Mew refusing to meet his gaze. His smile only broadened the longer the moment stretched on. A light breeze whipped by, giving the tiny feline a small push. As though it told her to move, she floated up to her clone, pausing a few feet away. While she still averted from his eyes, she noticed his smile.

“That's new,” she whispered, tilting her chin in. “But then again, I can't remember the last time you smiled.”

“I feel this is a special occasion,” Mewtwo replied quietly.

She blinked up at him. “Why?”

“I have no idea.”

Slowly but surely, a small beam appeared on her lips. Then hesitantly, she reached out and gently wrapped her arms around his chest, ear pressed to his heart. She let out a soft sigh when he laid a hand on her back. “I'm just glad you're okay. You've never passed out before... and so close to the Ruins, too...”

He glanced down. “What ruins?”

“The Ruins of Alph.” Mew tilted her eyes up at him. “Were you visiting them?”

He frowned, not recalling ever going near them, let alone ever leaving the campsite. The blank spot was getting annoying. “To be honest, I have no idea what happened. I last remember being with the others, and then suddenly I am waking up a day later in Cherrygrove. Everyone is claiming I got sick while out walking or looking for you... though I think it was the latter.”

“You 'think'?” she repeated in amazement. “Mewtwo, you rarely if not ever say 'think' in that context. Something must have happened.”

“I just do not know what that 'something' was.”

Chewing on her lip, Mew reached behind to curl her fingers around his hand, and spun herself around. “Come on, let's go somewhere private.”

Though tempted to say where they were was private enough, Mewtwo obeyed without question, letting her lead.

She was obviously in no hurry to get where she wanted them to be. It was a straight walk, and the two kept quiet the entire time. He made note of the trees that were still standing or were dead, finding it almost hard to believe a forest that was once prosperous had been reduced to few survivors within a long day of disasters. Many Pokémon, he imagined, lived in these parts, living out their instincts while humans waited in the background, ready to snap at any given moment. It was almost a wonder the town never did grow. Most towns became cities within decades, clearing habitats for new suburbs or skyscrapers. He couldn't blame the humans for wanting to migrate, it was natural for them, and he could relate rather well, if only to a certain point.

Within time, Mewtwo noticed the landscape was becoming unfamiliar with different tree species and a rugged ground, rent from earthquakes. He felt Mew give a squeeze and murmur an “Almost there” without a glance back.

“Do you know the location, Mew?”

“Yeah... It's just outside Mahogany Town.”

His eyes widened a little. “Why out this far?”

She fell silent and quickened her pace, prompting him to as well. They passed through another gray forest before there came a small clearing and a lake with a still-functioning waterfall. She then paused, released his hand, and leaned down to feel the grass. “Soft enough,” she breathed out before sitting down. She gestured an invitation to him, and he obliged.

“So... what is this place?” he wondered, staring at the waterfall.

“I don't know, but I remember people had called it Pryce Falls or something like that. Must've been named after someone who liked the waterfall.” She shrugged. “You want to name it later?”

In slight discomfort, he only responded, “I will think about it,” and the silence returned.

It didn't take long for them to loosen up when the waterfall faded to a faint hiss in the background. The two took care to avoid eye-contact, growing more awkward the longer time passed. Mewtwo noted there was only a few feet of space separating them, the way it always had been. Not that he didn't mind it, he was just feeling some concern for her unusual behavior despite it being so minor. She probably was still a little hurt from the past week to move on. Though now the more he looked at her, the more he noticed she was looking insomniac...

A light brush against his tail made him jolt, swerving over to see her limp appendage laying where his own was a second ago. “Mewtwo,” she sighed, “...I've been bothered for a while about this...”

“About what?”

She tilted her sad gaze up at him. “Why... did you volunteer to heal me?”

He recalled the afternoon when he had made the promise to Ho-oh and Shaymin she was in good hands. As much as they were willing to take her, they were happy to know he would bring her back from her depression. What he kept from them were his actual reasons for it. They never bothered to figure out his intentions, to learn he had unsuccessfully tried nearly a year earlier. She was so close to death, why would they have entrusted her to him, the clone who once was after her blood? Couldn't they have bothered to be suspicious of him for that one moment? He could have lied to them and murdered her behind their backs. Then who would _really_ be to blame?

The longer he stared into her deep eyes, the easier it was to personally admit it was for a second chance. The stakes were high, the odds of her recovering being against him, but he tried one last try. Had she died, she would have at least been under his care, and thus he would have taken the punishment without a fight.

With a slow puff of breath, he broke the gaze, turning his attention to the serene lake. Mew spoke up again, “You had a choice, didn't you?”

He nodded, biting his tongue.

“So why did you agree to it? Did Ho-oh give you a pep-talk or what?”

A shake of the head. “No, nothing of the sort. Are you feeling well?” he attempted to change the topic.

His counterpart blinked. “Why? Am I asking too many questions at once?”

“No, it has nothing to do with that.” He respectfully pointed to one of his eyes. “You look like you have not slept in a long while.”

She immediately turned away, trying to hide the obvious. “It's nothing,” she murmured. “I just don't feel like dreaming anymore...”

“Are your dreams bothering you?”

Mew avoided answering when she scooted closer, gently laying a paw on his knee to which he involuntarily retracted. Her voice smoothed out, and he had to strain his ears to hear her. “How long have you loved me?”

His insides froze as she stared. Though aware that she knew of his feelings, he was too taken aback by how she approached it to answer her. It wasn't demanding, but she definitely wanted answers.

Taking in some breaths to calm himself, he honestly stated, “It is hard to pinpoint a certain day. Many years had passed before I could recognize the feeling as love. I roughly estimate it was a century ago, if not more.”

She pressed her hands against her heart, scrunching her eyes shut for a few moments. “Amazing... only a confident, determined heart can hold love for as long as you did. Did it hurt?”

“Why do you want to know?” he suspiciously wondered. _And why did you skip my previous question for this?_

“The love must have been growing inside of you,” she continued, her head remaining hung, “pressing into you. It wanted out, to manifest itself. But you wouldn't let it. So it was a little uncomfortable at least, right?”

He thought a bit on it, remembering the early days when he'd snap at her, wanting nothing to do with her. As she continued to be persistent hanging around him, he also found himself becoming like a human, and with it came a new feeling he couldn't name. When she left that one night, it was then he realized he was falling in love with her, but he couldn't tell her. Not at the time, it had still been too soon to positively confirm it. But he recognized the more he grew annoyed with her, the more he missed her company during her long absences. Her giggles used to make him want to go berserk at times, then he found himself enjoying it, even cracking a small smile every now and then. What had once been a chore to get him _to_ be willing to be dragged across the globe grew to become a desire to always be with her. Like she did with him, he had made the effort to get to know her better, to learn her likes and dislikes, listening to her many stories... even trying to make her laugh at least once per visit.

Little by little, his heart was opened enough he was holding her dear unknownst to her. When she was gone, he faced inner turmoil and unrest from his many emotions cropping up. With her at his side, he was at peace, as though everything had been—temporarily—resolved. He became happy for those short moments, and he wanted to repay it back. But what could he give her? He wanted to love her, to show he did care, he just didn't know how. And for that, his heart, the heart he never thought could feel, ached.

Gazing deep into her eyes, Mewtwo solemnly answered, “It was, at first. Then it began to hurt, swelling my heart in such a way I thought it could burst. But as time passed, and the more I got to know you... it was then I realized I can feel love. A love for a creature I could not despise any longer when everything had been worked out between us. It is similar to the type of familial love I had for my fellow clones, just stronger... a burning flame that thawed my heart and made me bleed. Loving you for all these years... _has_ been painful.”

Mew switched to sitting on her knees, then grasped his hand. “If you've loved me, why did you deny it for as long as you have?”

He averted his stare. “I... I was confused. It was a new take on emotions I had only heard about. I did not think I would ever experience it.”

“Why?”

He closed his eyes, letting out a sigh that sounded grievous. “That was the other reason. I feared it as well, knowing this natural emotion was being given to someone as unnatural as I am. God never gave me emotions, man did. And man corrupts emotions.” His hands loosely clenched, though the one Mew held curled around hers. “I did not want to love. I was not _made_ to love, I was made to fight, to hate. If I fell in love, it was only a matter of time before I would destroy that love. That would have only made me more human.”

“I'm sure there is a reason you have not yet destroyed your love—”

“What do you know, Mew?” he snapped, glaring down at her. “You know of my origins, I was to be a killing machine, not a _living_ _being_. I cannot have emotions. I am not God's creation, when will you get it?”

“Mewtwo—”

“My name is proof of it, you cannot deny it!” he shouted, crushing her small paw. Her eyes only widened from the pain, mouth frozen open. “I am a hideous abomination! I have numerous flaws despite them saying that I am 'perfect' because they 'claim' to know my body! They may have created it, but they did not know it! They did not have to use wild psychic abilities in a fight! Hell, _I_ had trouble controlling them until I wore that _damn_ armor! But even then, _that man_ did not have to deal with everything I had to go through. I have had my shares of injuries during those days that he never knew about, nor bothered to _care_ about! I have gone through much mental torment over _you_ and the world that the bodily torture I experienced months later was _nothing_ in comparison! To this very day, I continue to be haunted by the blood of the scientists that dirties my hands! Knowing you have murdered does not rest well with your conscious!”

“Mewtwo, please,” she pleaded, looking a little uncomfortable in his presence. “Those days are over now.”

“No, they are _not!_ Now that I fell in love with you, I am constantly reminded about how much of a _fake_ I am! As the original imperfect clone, I should not have these emotions, the desire to love and be loved!”

“The other clones did—”

“ _ **I**_ _CREATED THEM!_ ” Mewtwo roared, grasping her shoulders and shaking her. “I _made_ them perfect, I made sure they _could_ have offspring! God had _nothing_ to do with them, it was all _my_ doing! While re-building the lab, I put in the fluids chemical compounds that can be absorbed into the body to act as substitutes for natural hormones. I made it myself from scratch, long before any other scientist could make it in _their_ labs. Thanks to my handiwork, they were able to be abnormal in strength, but _normal_ hormonal-wise. Something _I_ was denied!”

“Mewtwo, if you would listen—”

“ _Shut up_ , I do not want to hear of this! I do not give a damn about emotions, and I could not care less what God has to say about this! Not that he talks to anyone down here anyway, _I_ should know. I have asked numerous questions that I know only _he_ could answer, and I am left in the dark with even _more_ questions. In my times of loneliness, he did not comfort me when I needed it most. When cities cried out for help, for mercy in their time of need, who did he spare? Who did he protect from a gruesome death? For someone who loves all of his children, he sure does let them _suffer_ a lot.”

Slowly, he released his tense fingers from her, but continued to glower down at her. “So tell me, _Mew_ , what has God done for me that he is deserving of my respect? What has he done for _you_? Even if you do not believe in him anymore, even if he may have forsaken us in this time, surely he must have done _something_ in the past.”

She hung her head, eyes welled up to dangerous levels. “He allowed you to live,” she meekly whispered out, wringing her hands. The response got him to blink, feeling a bit impressed she answered so quickly. “A body is one the greatest gifts He gives to all His children... even if they're undeserving.” She lifted herself off the ground, then glanced up at his steeled look before averting her gaze again. “And... He gave you friends through your clones like Pikatwo and Meowtwo... A-And He sent me to you to show you the beauty of life... of the values of friendship and of... love.” Her teeth clenched to stifle herself as she broke down in quiet hiccups.

His hardened stare fell upon the tears rolling down her face, being reminded of rain. With a heavy breath, he seized her back and firmly grazed his lips onto her cheek, licking them away. Mew shuddered in his hold, choking back a sob as more teardrops followed when she tightly closed her eyes. He once again greedily kissed them away, his rough tongue watering at the salty taste the more it brushed against her.

“Why must you taste so _alive_ , Mew?” he moaned into her, his fingers squeezing her arms. “Why must you tease me like this? Do you enjoy my anguish?” He leaned to the side to lick her neck, pressing her into him.

The smaller Legendary only continued to quiver beneath him. She ran her hands against his arms, trailing to the wrists when he reached up to cup her head. Shivering from the touch, he fiercely kissed her jaw, nipping in frustration. “Answer me, Mew,” he growled, pulling her closer. “Was I meant to love you, only for you to refuse me?”

Hesitantly, she let out a light sigh, almost in a moan. “Maybe your body was made for me.”

Mewtwo quickly pried himself away to look into her face. “What?”

She opened her eyes half-way, her gaze in a dream-like state. Her voice was soft, still breathless from his actions. “Mewtwo... you worried so much about not being able to love, you became blind to it. You think your purpose is to love just so you are denied it? Whatever gave you that impression just by looking at me?” Mew reached up to caress alongside his jawbone, skimming along the rough feature as his eyes lightened up. “Kiss me.”

He moved to perform said action, only to freeze above her open mouth in uncertainty. “Mew...”

“Kiss me, Mewtwo,” she pressed on. With irregular breath, he planted a peck on her, but still remained hesitant. “Harder.” He lengthened the kiss as she said before separating with a smack. His body trembled from the small gasp she emitted. “Don't be afraid, Mewtwo,” she assured him. “This is our first. We're in this together.” Then he devoured her lips without another word.

It was a hard kiss, they gave it their all, beginning to cleave unto each other. They would only separate for an intake of breath before they reconnected more passionately. With one hand, Mewtwo massaged her cheek while the other supported her neck as he bowed forward. Mew let out a short-lived whimper in response, throwing her arms over his shoulders. He proceeded to pepper kisses across her face, she doing the same along his chin and throat. Reaching her ear, he nibbled the tip, bringing out a modest giggle from her. She ran a hand down his shoulder blade, tracing the bony structure. Ducking her head, she slid down to his chest, marveling at the firmness of his sternum, and moved to plant her lips to his collarbone.

Brushing a hand against his neck, she hoisted herself up to press her mouth at his pulse, laying her paws against his heart before pulling away. Mewtwo mimicked when she made no other movement, then sadly mumbled into her skin, “I never would have guessed all hearts beat the same way.”

She leaned against his head. “They don't,” she whispered with what sounded like a smile in her voice. “It's only when two start bonding... that they do.”

“I want to bond with you,” he promptly declared, nuzzling into the crook of her neck. “I want this forever... within my grasp.”

“Whatever you want, Mewtwo... just say the word.”

“Love me,” came the purr.

She gripped his shoulders when he clamped to her neck, his hands dropping to stroke down her hips and thighs. An irregular shudder rippled throughout her middle when he pulled her pelvis forward. Upon attempting to tilt her head, he nipped and sucked harder, intentionally or not. “Oh, Mewtwo... i-is there a specific way you want me to...?”

“No.” He licked the area where a bruise had formed. “Just love me.”

She swallowed. “How am I going to hide that?”

“We will stay out here if you want to.” He tipped her head back to bite underneath her chin. “They will go away in a few days.”

“But that was only the one.”

Mewtwo snagged and puckered the skin once more for a few moments. “You forgot about that one.”

Mew quietly laughed. “Mmm, Mewtwo... I need to lie down,” she simpered.

A playful growl erupted in his throat and he pounced onto her lips, pushing her down to the grass, pinning her arms and tail. Being bigger, he was able to hold her mouth open and run his tongue inside. She let out a muffled gasp and tensed, then squirmed from stray saliva dribbling from the gap between their mouths. Her paw involuntarily twitched against his hand, to which he grasped in response. He insisted on remaining locked to her, exploring her cavity desirably while she writhed against his torso, fighting back unwanted whimpers in her throat. When he finally withdrew, causing a spit trail to drip, she gasped for relief, slowly opening her watery eyes.

Mewtwo grinned down at her, lips moist. “You liked it,” he whispered gleefully.

She gave him a lop-sided smile of her own. “You didn't give me a chance to,” she accused, wiping part of her chin on her shoulder.

“Need help?” Without her consent, he leaned down and kissed the rest of the drool away, then slid over for a second round. She joined to revel in the carnal waltz inside her mouth, and he took pleasure in her tongue sliding along underneath. He released her arms, allowing her to twine them around his neck while he resumed traveling along her body. His tail steadily fondled the bulbous end of her own appendage, inducing her pelvis to thrust up sensually into his ribs. She let loose indecipherable mumbles against his lips, but nothing else. He wrapped his arms around her tiny body, then flipped over, tilting his head back until he felt no more sensitive tingles running through the back of his neck.

It was then Mew broke the deep kiss to stare down at him. He only smiled up at her, petting her silky back. “Is there something wrong, dear?” he asked quietly, his heart leaping at the use of a term of endearment. “Was that the wrong move?”

Her eyes softened when she frowned. “Something's not right here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean... well...” She chewed on her lip. “...should we be doing this?”

His brows slightly rose. “Why do you ask? Are we not in love?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Then there is no reason not to continue.” Mewtwo pushed himself up with an arm to kiss her full on the mouth.

Mew pushed him back. “Mewtwo, we need to consider things first.”

“Like what?” he let out a grumble.

“Like the world, for instance,” she pointed out, gesturing to their grim surroundings. “This might be a nicer area, but everything's a mess. We can't raise children in this kind of filth.”

The clone deeply frowned at her statement. “Who says we will have children?”

A blush burned on her cheeks. “W-Well... our actions are implying that procreation is bound to take place... sooner or later.” She trailed off in embarrassment.

Sitting up, Mewtwo held her by the shoulders firmly. “Who says this will lead to children?” he inquired in a strangely calm tone.

Her head sagged in place, slight shivers running through her figure. Her hands nonchalantly gestured around in tight shapes. “You know... when the... sperm reaches the egg—”

“I am not asking for a lecture on how children are made, Mew,” Mewtwo gruffly interrupted, scowling. “I want to know what makes you think children will come from this.”

“B-Because... it was bound to happen...”

She squealed slightly when he squeezed her shoulders in a hard grip. “Mew, I may have reproductive organs, but it does not mean I have the capability to give you children,” he explained harshly. “Stop worrying.”

Mew looked away, tensing up and holding herself. “Mewtwo, we're life-mates now. I hope you realize that.”

Something prickled in the back of his mind, a sense of incrimination that he knew about it before, but it faded when he thought back to the previous week when he had tried to kiss her. He wondered if the emotions that had sprouted up at that moment were what they were experiencing now in full bloom. Still, he had not heard about this announcement.

“Since when?”

The petite feline glanced at him for a few moments. “When two Mew kiss, they make the commitment to be forever loyal to each other. We sealed it at Mount Quena... about several months ago.”

Mewtwo was surprised with himself he had no other concerns about the ordeal, like it was more of a reminiscence than an actual explanation. Though it still didn't justify why she was avoiding him the entire time if they were life-mates for that long. But for now, he was content with it.

Letting out a sigh, he pressed his lips against her cheek as she let out a quiet mewl. “Mew, there is no need to worry now,” he said gently to lull her. “Everything will be all right.” He turned her head to properly kiss her, though she didn't return it. Her eyes were still cast down, ears drooped and a frown on her lips. “Are you upset that we will not have children?”

She barely shook her head, refusing to look him in the eye. “It's not that...”

“Then what are you worrying about?”

A hand rose to grasp a finger. “Your actions, Mewtwo,” she sighed. “I don't think you're showing love.”

“I am, Mew.”

“No, Mewtwo.” She finally brought herself to meet his stare, visibly holding back the threat of stray tears. “You're taking your anger out on me in a rather suggestive manner. You can't bring yourself to hurt me, so you went ahead to seduce me. You...” She slowly inhaled. “...you're taunting me... asking if I'm refusing your love.” Mew ran her fingers along the bruises on her neck. “I don't know why you would ask that, I would never refuse you. You're my closest friend, Mewtwo... I love you.” A small teardrop escaped only to be caught up by the clone's knobbed finger and licked off. “Do you love me, Mewtwo?”

“Have I not expressed it enough times?”

She ducked her head to wipe at her face, and took another breath. “Then if you love me, Mewtwo, I want you to do me a favor.”

“What is it?”

She clasped her hands in front of her, eyes closing for a few seconds before gazing back up at him. “When I'm ready, I'll give you my virginity. But for now... just promise me that, okay?”

Mewtwo took her by the chin and held her in place to bestow a passionate kiss to her parted lips. “I promise.” He fastened to her neck for a tender love bite.

Mew pushed him off. “Mewtwo, what are you doing?” she gasped.

“I promised not to take your virginity, not for other intimacies.” He licked her cheek with a smile. “Is it a crime now to kiss your mate?”

“N-No, but—”

“Ssh...” His next kiss was soft. “Please do not refuse me, Mew. I have been so devoid of love...” He steadily deepened it. “...if you are so worried... then teach me.”

She whined when he used the tip of his tongue to tease her bottom lip, and quickly pulled back. “Mewtwo, I didn't bring us here for this,” was her pitiful cry. “I just wanted to apologize to you.”

“For breaking my heart?” he murmured.

“For everything.” He clamped down to suck her lips. She wriggled free. “Mewtwo, please stop!”

“Kiss me back and I will forgive you.”

“Mewtwo, please, you don't know what you're getting into!” Mew wailed, gripping the sides of his face in attempt to hold him back.

Out-sized and over-powered, Mewtwo easily immobilized her to the ground and crushed a forceful, biting kiss to her mouth. She screamed into him, vainly shaking her head around to throw him off. He pressed himself to her body, fingers raking up and down her thigh the same time his tail was stroking hers feverishly. In a surprising response, her pelvic area once more drove into him at an angle. Smirking, he slid his hand over.

She was immediately thrown into shudders, cries transitioning to pleading moans against his lips. The taste of her lips grew saltier, and without detaching himself, Mewtwo lapped up all fluids within range before slipping into her oral cavity. He roughened the heavy petting below, inducing her hips to grind against his midsection, and one of her legs to skim his side—though he couldn't tell if it was to push him away or for ballast. With the other hand, he squeezed and massaged her chest, moaning from how it was softer than the rest of her body. She couldn't stop quaking and struggling, though she dropped her arms as he felt her start to yield. Tantalizingly, he traced a finger up to her open hand to grasp and pin it above her, and got a reaction from her as a muffled gasp. Similarly, when he teased sensitive flesh below, Mew arched into his torso with ragged breaths.

_What did I do wrong?_

It started in his chest and quickly spread out, leaving icy shockwaves and the sensation of his heart clenched mid-beat. He gasped from the sudden pain, parting from her enough for a sob to escape. She clawed into him, not as defiantly as earlier, but the shock kept him paralyzed to where he barely caught himself from landing on top of her. Pulling his hand out of her hold, he wrapped his limb around her figure to press her closer, crushing his lips to hers again. He was slightly annoyed by his conscious for interrupting the liaison with a stupor of thought. His mind couldn't stop reeling from the break, it was giving him a headache.

_I trusted him... why did I trust him?_

...those were not his thoughts.

Mewtwo quickly broke the kiss as cold sweat enveloped him, feeling like he had been punched in the gut. He watched Mew gulp down air and heard her pitiful whimpers, but she didn't attempt to make a struggle nor open her eyes. He stared down in near-disbelief, taking in the tears, the furrowed brows, her pursed moist lips, and the slight flutter of her eyelids. His gaze trailed down to her bruised neck when she tilted her head with a choked sob. And slowly, she brought a half-lidded gaze up, revealing the anxiety deep in her irises. It was all he could do to fight back his own tears.

_...what have I done?_

He thought back to the morning he approached Ho-oh—perhaps hours ago—and confessed his emotions, then to the night he was last alone with Mew. The comparison was very clear, he did not have to think hard on it. Within seconds of realizing it, unworthiness and grief clouded his mind. It hurt to feel his heart pump up against her breast, though the lingering touch of her hand on his shoulder was a much deeper cut. She opened her mouth to possibly speak her piece only for her voice to stick in her throat, and tears shimmered in her eyes.

The clone broke away that moment, shakily sitting up and removing his intruding hand from her sacred area. “So... this was what Ho-oh meant,” he breathed out.

“About what?” she wondered quietly, unable (or unwilling, he wasn't sure which) to move from her position.

He scanned further down, taking in more of her gaunt figure sprawled beneath him. “There is always opposition,” he stated, almost in a recitation, “there must be. Everyone in some point in their life feels both, but has to make their own judgment about what it is. Love is the most powerful emotion in the universe. However, lust is just as powerful... maybe even _as_ natural. Some have love control their life, while others live on lust. It takes them over, to the point they are nothing but slaves to it, unable to quench their sexual desires. They continue to go through bodies in the hopes it will, sending them further and further into madness. But love, being the exact opposite, means being free of heartache and misery, ascending into true happiness.”

Gingerly, he reached down to touch the bruises, noticing she barely quivered. “Mew... you are the embodiment of love, the result of two individuals who loved each other and had the desire to have you. But I am the embodiment of lust, having been created for the sole purpose to fulfill a wicked man's wish to conquer the world. As a result, I have lust coursing through my veins, while you thrive on love. How is it I love you when I am not familiar to it?”

Eyes widening in inner anguish, Mew pushed herself to a sitting position and tightly grasped a hand. “Mewtwo... you aren't suggesting...?”

“I almost raped you, Mew,” he admitted, sending pangs of hurt through his heart. Even she shuddered, dropping her eyes in what he interpreted as shame. “I was angry, I was not thinking straight. It did not help that you said we are now life-mates. It only made me...” He took in a breath to try to calm himself. “I am a being doomed to desire but not receive. Hearing that I now have a mate, it gives me hope. But I am undeserving of you, I would only destroy our relationship. You need someone who will love you, who will not get frequent bouts of anger at himself, and who will give you children.”

“Mewtwo, don't say that!” she exclaimed, squeezing his paw to her chest and shaking her head. “You love me, I know you do!”

“Since when is rape considered love?”

“You were making a mistake, yes, but you stopped yourself in time! If you're all lust like you said, you would have taken my virginity by now! But there was some love in there that came through! That love _cares_ for me, I've seen it! I know it exists because you told me... even from a distance...” She fought back her sobs, ducking her head to study his vast hand. He leaned in for a look as well, taking in the size differences and at how the shape was more humanoid compared to her feline-like paws.

With trembling breaths, she raised it to her lips to kiss his fingertips one-by-one. “I forgive you, Mewtwo... I forgive you for hurting me back at Mount Quena even though that wasn't you.” She brushed her mouth against his palm. “I forgive you for hurting Latios, you meant well protecting me.” She bent her neck to kiss the underside of his wrist. “And I forgive you... for denying me. I know you didn't mean to. I knew you were there for me during those difficult days. I was just so scared when I lost everything... I wanted to tell you then, I just couldn't... Oh, Mewtwo, please forgive me. I don't want you to leave me again.” Her voice gave out, choking on her tears as she bowed her head onto his forearm, her shaky grip loosening.

The same hand tilted her head back up, the other wiping away the teardrops. She hiccuped a little, repositioning her hands to hold his tightly when he leaned down to press a string of swift kisses onto her quivering lips. Mew wept from the bittersweet moment, remaining clung to him to bury her face into his awaiting palm.

The smell of blood was then more prominent. Looking down, Mewtwo saw a small crimson river dripping from his arm, quickly noting it wasn't a wound of his. Turning over her own arm, his eyes widened as he horrifically stared at the deep, bloody gash on her wrist. The amount of gushing fluid was great, leaving her entire ghostly-white limb to shake from its loss. Snapping back to her face, he was surprised she was unaffected by it except for her sad expression.

“Mew... how long?” he managed to breathe out.

“About twenty-four hours, give or take,” she muttered in a melancholic tone. “Legion won't heal it.”

“What, _who_?! Who is this Legion?” he sputtered.

“I was going to tell you earlier...”

“Mew, what is going on?!” he gritted, wanting to shake her. “What have you _done_ to yourself?!”

“I don't have enough time. That demon is going to discover I haven't been cast out completely, and he'll come to kill me.”

“Mew, tell me what is going _on_!” he hollered, tightly constricting her arms out of an impulse. “Why have you not taken care of this?! _Who_ is this Legion?! _Who_ is going to kill you?!”

She squirmed under his harsh glare before taking a deep, straining breath to start, “Listen, you aren't anywhere near Cherrygrove, this is all an illusion. You were being tricked into thinking nothing had ever happened after my walk. Legion was tempting you, Mewtwo, he wants you to have sex with me—with my body. I arrived just as you were looking for me, and I got rid of the decoy and played along. Even then...” She shook her head to rid herself of whatever thought she had. “You need to fight the temptations off, or he'll win. Legion took over me for a reason.”

“What reason?” he growled, still not making heads or tails of it.

“I don't know, there's very little I know. But he had been going after the others like he did with you. That's why you can't remember attacking Lugia, he had taken you over, you were his original target. But something went wrong—probably my interference—and he's realized the importance of my species. _Our_ species. He was why I couldn't sleep, he was waiting for me to show weakness.” Mew gave a sharp gasp of pain, immediately grasping her head.

He could only watch helplessly as she trembled dangerously in his hands, uttering out agonized shrieks. His heart squeezed out freezing vibes, only able to imagine how painful it must be. “Mew, is it...?”

She nodded vigorously, then peered back up, hurrying her speech. “Mewtwo, you helped slow him down today, but he's going to do everything he can to get what he wants. His plan can't continue if I'm not pregnant... or immortal for one thing... oh, God!” She writhed and twitched in a maddening fit like she was having a seizure. It frightened him until it paused. “H-He can't bring back the Tree of Beginning, Mewtwo. We're not immune to it anymore.”

“But I thought it was destroyed. Is it possible to get it back?”

“Yes... I-If anything is left of the Tree, it can be brought back. Usually with one of its crystals, if one hasn't been destroyed yet...” She fought back a whimper. “Please, Mewtwo... d-don't give him what he wants. You can't believe everything he says... especially if he tries to pass himself off as me again.”

“Is there a way you can take back control?”

“I-I'm sure...” Mew screamed again for another moment. “...I only managed to get here because you're still asleep... and because my spirit's not as connected to my body anymore—”

“Wait, you are a _spirit?_ ” he blurted out incredulously.

“We both are, Mewtwo... Whatever happens to our bodies... happens to us and vice versa... because we take the form of them.” She gave a painful smile that only brightened her countenance. “You're so beautiful, Mewtwo... the most unique of all God's spirits. I wish you could see yourself...”

 _No,_ _ **you**_ _are beautiful,_ he wanted to amend, but never got the chance. He let out an astonished gasp when she started wavering in and out of focus, his surroundings fading to black. “Mew, hang on, I am going to get you out of here!”

“There's nothing you can do for me now... he already knows.”

He started to panic. “What can I do?”

“Just do what I said, a-and you'll be fine... hopefully. I'll try to contact you through my body... again, hopefully.” She forced a giggle when she faltered a few seconds longer.

“How will I know when it is _you_ speaking to me?”

Holding an intake of breath, she shakily flew up to eye-level and whispered into his ear with the last of her strength, “Trust me...”

Mewtwo caught her when she fell limp, cradling her protectively close to his chest. He laid a hand against her sternum, wanting to feel her heartbeat once more before she could disappear. Just as they were left in darkness, he saw her eyes open, the azure glow remaining bright in her weak state. They kept their gazes locked on each other, afraid they may fade away into nothingness if they even blinked; they breathed together to remain stable wherever they were. Her hands cautiously moved as though to push away his intruding paw, only to move it further so it was directly over her heart.

It was for that reason the clone allowed himself to cry in front of her. “Mew... I honestly never meant to hurt you,” he whispered down to her, fingers curling her fur softly, thankful she wasn't so ethereal. She twitched a little when he did, the heartbeats slightly quickening. “But I am grateful you forgave me... if only I can forgive myself. I was just frustrated with you then, you were so withdrawn I feared for your life. It was the only time I ever saw you so depressed.”

His heart nearly stopped when she blinked, then he let out a breath of relief when she hadn't left. He felt the tips of her tiny digits smooth over his chest in a comforting way. “What happened that day, Mew, to make you realize you could not pretend any longer? That you had to accept you could no longer retain your childlike innocence... and that you accepted your womanhood?” He paused for a few moments so he could swallow down the growing lump. “When did you... begin to love me?”

Mew searched inside his eyes during the long silence, her irises dimming in emotion. Then her arms crawled up his chest as far as they could go, clutching his shoulders. Without breaking the gaze, she lifted her tremulous-self up, using his arm as a ballast for her feet while his hands supported her back. Her breathing was shallow and labored, the strain to stay alive. Leaning forward, she covered his mouth fully, and slowly inhaled.

Mewtwo understood right away what she was trying to do, he had done it once before. Slipping a hand behind her neck, he bent her backward, and breathed down into her lungs. She briefly parted to test out her own respiratory, found it still irregular, and latched back on. He repeated the step once more, continuing the cycle of resuscitation. Three times it took until the two remained glued together, sharing life. They were willing to accept it was more than a kiss, that it was a soul-to-soul connection the two never dreamed could ever happen. It was a promise as they exchanged a little part of themselves into the other—a renewed promise only the pair could partake in such a sacred moment as this. Their hearts lifted, and they wept.

Then Mew shoved herself away in a forceful manner.

And they fell away into darkness.


	11. Through Her Eyes

“ _Show me the shadow where true meaning lies_

_So much more dismay in empty eyes”_

_\-- “Exodus”, Evanescence, “Evanescence EP”_

*~*~*

Mewtwo grew aware of the cold floor he was laying upon before the pain stung through his head. He groaned as he sat up, squinting into the dim chamber at the pulsating lights. He questioned his current location, knowing he had been elsewhere just minutes ago. It took a moment for everything to come back to him, recalling how uncharacteristic he had been as were the other Legendaries. Then Mew arrived, and they had a fit of passion before they recollected themselves—no, that was all him, she was just following along. It was when she had announced it was all an illusion used by Legion that everything started to fall apart.

Speaking of which...

“So, you woke up as well,” came a sinister growl, and he whipped his head around to meet an enraged Mew in the eye. He almost stumbled back out of an impulse until he remembered it wasn't entirely her. “I bet she told you everything after snapping you back to normal, did she not?”

“You!” he snarled. “What have you done to Mew?”

“Me? I never touched her the entire time. Wish I could say the same about you.” The slitted eyes flashed tauntingly as she licked her upper lip. “How did it feel to know you had her in your grasp? Exhilarating, am I right?”

“Stop it, Legion!” he barked, shivering at the memory. “What did you do to Mew?!”

Shrugging, Legion nonchalantly responded, “The same thing I do to all souls taken into possession. She currently awaits eternal damnation in Spirit Prison. She put up quite a fight, I had expected no less from her.”

“...she is _where?_ ”

“It is where all unclean spirits go to dwell until they are 'bailed out' in a way.” The phrase was hissed out maliciously. “I will be perfectly honest with you, I do not know what goes on there most of the time, I refuse to stay in there. All I know is good spirits can go in and preach to the bad or the uninformed because that is just what they do. If she is lucky, someone will visit her and convert her over to Paradise. But... she will have to pay the consequences.”

Mewtwo shivered, half in fright and the other in anger. “You promised to let her go,” he harshly reminded the demon. “Why are you still in her body?”

Legion laughed. “You only asked me to 'release her', if memory serves me well—and it _always_ does—but you were not specific. I would have done what you might have been thinking of until you broke your end of the bargain before we could make the deal.”

The clone fought to restrain himself, gritting his teeth and glancing away. He tried not to think hard on his previous actions to no avail; they were still fresh from minutes ago. Despite everything being a trick, and as much as he'd like to deny it, his contact with Mew (her spirit anyway) was real. From the touches to her hard kisses, the hot breaths and heartbeats.... the tears... the discovery of her body... _everything_. It had happened. His reasons for it, however, were unclear. As his eyes scrunched shut in frustration, of all the past memories he could see, the vision of her pleading for him to stop as he forced himself upon her came to mind. He couldn't think of another time she was so helpless against him.

Afraid to delve further into the memory, he threw an accusation down the demon's way. “You tempted me to break that promise. I would never dare handle her in such a way.”

“Surprise, surprise, I had nothing to do with the temptation!” she exclaimed in a strangely excited tone. “Well, the vision was all my doing, but your actions were of your own! Had the real Mew not weaseled herself in, then I suppose I would have been a part of your temptation—how she got rid of it is beyond me. It does not matter, point is, it was all you.” A crooked smile lit up in the dim lighting. “After all, Mewtwo, your immortal spirit carries with it all the memories and personalities you have developed in your mortal life. You are currently warring within yourself about whether-or-not you truly love her, or are just wanting her body. And so far... lust is winning the war.”

“You lie, I hold high regards to her!” Mewtwo moved to stand only for his knees to give out. He maintained eye-contact with her to continue, “She has been my enemy, a true friend, an equal! I do not want her body, I want her heart, her soul! They hold the Mew I know and respect, and I almost got her back! If there should be any warring going on, it should be you and I fighting for the future of her well-being!”

“Bah, you have not a clue what you are talking about,” Legion interjected, waving a hand. “You cannot challenge a demon and win. Mortality and sin go hand-in-hand because of how you are unable to escape it. That is how fickle bodies are, and spirits _do_ get restless after a while. For all I know, you were extremely curious about how spiritual bodies can still be intimate with each other. It still does not matter, you cannot get Mew back.” Floating closer, her hips swung suggestively. “You _can_ , however, still have the body. At least you will not return home empty-handed.”

She reached out to cup his face, only for him to jerk away. “Never!” he spat.

With a huff, she backed off. “Fine, be that way. You will be confined back to the wall, then.”

When “back” left her lips, Mewtwo's wrists were immediately seized upon, and he was wrenched up from behind to the stone wall. He struggled, noticing whenever he strained his arm away, a thick, shadowed tendril tightened as it forcefully pulled back. “Unhand me, demon!” he seethed out.

“You had your chance, but you gave it up for 'her virginity',” she mocked, using air quotes as emphasis. “For something as pathetic as that excuse, you are undeserving to be released at this present time. I will let you go, briefly, when you are needed.”

“I will not do what you demand of me. You will only be wasting your time.”

“I have all eternity. Time does not exist to me.” The smirk grew into a maddening grin. “I will keep you alive against God's wishes and yours. You will live to see completion of my work.” Mew closed the space between them to place a teasing kiss onto his mouth, sending tremors through his body. “Of _our_ work.” She nipped at his jawline.

Mewtwo bent away from her the best he could, only evoking her to latch on further. Any repelling abilities he had on hand were disabled, rendering him helpless under her control. He bit back gasps when she traced her hand along his throat, scraping her claws lightly against his jugular. He caught at the corner of his eye a warning glare before the harsh kisses resumed along his neck.

At once, his recollection of Mew's own reaction to his advances returned. She was like him, being subject under another's will. But unlike him, he realized, she had trusted him enough when she willingly and possibly foolishly submitted herself to the passion. If what Legion said was true about a soul carrying the same personality into eternity, and having _met_ her soul...

...she was of love, he was of lust. Because she loves him, she gave herself to him. But also _because_ she loves him, she had wanted it to end. Now, being in her position, he understood what she had felt during those minutes of passion... of weakness.

Glancing back at his counterpart, he noticed dark spots on her neck that he identified as bruises, similar to what Mew had obtained from him. _Very_ similar. When she shifted down to kiss his chest, he craned for a look to see bloodied dots and streaks on his fur, no doubt from the gash. A sorrowful thought came to him, and he dared to speak to Legion.

“Why have you not healed her wound?”

“Why does it matter to you?” she grumbled into his pectoral, digging her claws into him.

He cringed a little. “Mew has lost too much blood from it. She is going to die if she does not get treatment.”

“She is already dead.”

Within that second, his heart stung in protest when it skipped a beat, his lungs clenched when he lost his breath, his blood ran cold... So much was running through him, he felt like his body had suddenly shut down. He stared in bewilderment down at her, hardly noticing she still pressed coarse kisses across his torso without another care as his thoughts focused on Mew. He did not want to believe it, there was no way she could be dead, not when he had talked to her. She may have been a spirit, but he could vividly remember she was as alive as him, if not more. He had experienced her warmth, her heart beating against his chest. It had to be no more than a few minutes ago, he was sure of it.

Yet... there had been something in her eyes before they separated. He had seen her sad enough to know what it looked like inside her pure soul. But there in his arms was more than sadness—this sorrow of hers had pierced him in such a way, he knew he couldn't do anything for her. He would not have been able to comfort her, to make her laugh to chase away the tears. There was something personal about her grief he had no right in knowing, and nothing he could have done would have made her better. Any happiness she may have felt with him was temporary, unimportant.

What if, right then and there... she _had_ died? Had he been unable to revive her in time?

Mewtwo tensed in his heartbreak, trying and failing to hold it back. Pausing in her travel, the impostor tilted her head back, scowling deeply at him. “Enough, crying never solved anything,” she snapped impatiently. “Mew is dead, there is nothing you can do.”

“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!” he screamed at her, wanting to reach out and strangle her. He struggled to toss her off, though she calmly removed herself. “Mew did not die, I saw her! I _touched_ her, I was intimate with her!”

“I hate repeating myself,” the demon grumbled before speaking louder, getting in the clone's face. “Do you not get the definition of 'dead'? She is gone, ceases to exist, extinct! Get over it and move on.”

“I cannot!” Mewtwo cried out on the verge of tears. “How _can_ I when you are in her body to torment me?! But I know she is not dead! She is just lost, and too weak right now to do anything! She needs help, or she _will_ die! Surely not all demons are cruel!”

“Well, as much as the bursting of bubbles are so cliché, I love doing it. So there!” Legion cackled upon pretending to “pop” the feline's outer “bubble”.

Shaking his head, he weakly struggled against his hold, too overcome with grief to steady himself. His knees nearly gave out from quaking so much, the demon's words slowly sinking in. “...i-it does not make sense... it may have just been her spirit, but... spirits cannot die...”

“Not in the way you are thinking of.” He could barely bring himself to look at her, preferring to stare at the floor. “There are two types of death: the physical death, and the spiritual death. When I say that Mew is dead, what I mean is that she is about half of both. This body is only alive because I will it to, and also because a spirit still inhabits it—namely me, again. The other is much more devastating, you can say. The spiritual death is basically being damned, the opposite of eternal life. Mew is on her way to spiritual death because she has committed a grievous sin.”

“No, not Mew!” he quickly gasped out, forcing himself to look directly into the slitted irises. “Not her, she is pure, she is all things good! It is _I_ who has committed sins, not her!”

A jagged-looking grin split her face. “Everyone who has lived on this earth has committed a sin,” she declared in a deathly whisper, “ _especially_ your precious Mew. How else was I able to possess her?”

“Legion, tell me the truth! Mew is innocent, she has to be!”

“Say all you want, you know what I say is the truth. She is not as perfect as you think she is.”

“W-Well I know she is not perfect, no one is, but—”

“No one except God,” Legion corrected him. “But she is not God, and thus she is imperfect. And imperfect people are destined to make mistakes.”

“Then that is all it is—a mistake!” Mewtwo hysterically exclaimed. “Mew has done stupid things before, but she always made up for it!”

She slapped him with her tail and hissed, “Shut up and listen, or I will leave you here to rot in your insanity!” When he bit his lip, she straightened with a smirk. “You have much to learn about your sweetheart. There are things about her past she has not told you because she fears you will judge her. She has not lived an easy life. She lost her mother to poachers as a young kitten, and she barely survived into adulthood. The more she had fought to live, the more she learned the world was cruel to its inhabitants. She was hunted down, nearly eaten, often deathly ill, almost drowned twice, was trapped by a fallen tree until she taught herself to Teleport, then took _longer_ to learn Recover...”

Legion trailed off for a moment. “I could go on, but it is a tiring list of disasters and near-death experiences she had, all as a child. Though she _was_ once captured by a poacher and lived in a cage for a few months because she was still too small to even be the cuffs of a coat. Thanks to her ability to learn every attack, she 'accidentally' caught the camp on fire and escaped. Then she was stupid enough to get captured _again_ , this time to be put up for auction as a rare, exotic pet. Once she remembered she could Teleport, she fled deep into the Amazon. It took her another several grueling years before she knew all the dangers.”

Mewtwo squirmed in discomfort, feeling unworthy to hear Mew's life's story. His movements went unnoticed. “A few years into her adulthood, Arceus granted her permission to be an immortal Legendary, and to be the Tree of Beginning's guardian. She accepted, and you should already know what happened during the next thousand years,” she droned, waving her hand around. “She has seen many things in her lifetime, more horrific than yours, and considering the time-line when it came to wars and all, your days _were_ terrible, but not like hers. Name anything, she has seen it.”

“Why are you telling me this?” he moaned. “Mew would have told me when she was ready.”

“So you can learn for yourself how hellish her life was. And how she is no different from you.”

He slowly shook his head. “No... she is nothing like me. I have done things... terrible things. Mew is too pure to be near my range of status.”

“You would be surprised,” Legion smirked. “She would be able to relate to you oh-so very much.”

“How can she? She is my opposite, there is no way she can.”

Her smirk spread from ear to ear. “I think I will have Mew take over for me here,” she slowly whispered, letting out a breathy chuckle.

“What are you talking about?”

Without another word, she floated up to eye-level and pressed her forehead against his. He stared in confusion into her demonic eyes, attempting to shrink away. His wrists were given a painful squeeze in prohibition, forcing him to freeze in place. The grin eased up to a wicked beam as the narrowed oculars flashed a light blue.

Then Mewtwo's vision blacked out.

*~*~*

…

...he didn't know how long he was out for, how long the silence had been going. Somewhere in his subconscious, Mewtwo knew he should be dreaming at that moment. He didn't care what it was as long as he was dreaming. He was going to force himself to wake up if he didn't—since when was light so bright? He blinked a few times to get used to it, then sat up and stretched. This was feeling familiar...

With a yawn, he levitated away from the branch he had been sleeping in— _Wait, why am I in a tree?_ he questioned himself, then waved it off like it was nothing. He was probably dead tired right now. Once he got himself ready, he'll be up like normal and look out at how green everything was. Odd, did spring come early? That would've been one thing. But why was the thought “Today is going to be a new day!” running through his head? That was a bit out of character... maybe he really _is_ dreaming, just in a slightly different way. Which was about time he got something pleasant.

After a few minutes of air-travel (which was feeling so natural in this dreamworld, it made him smile), he reached water, and knelt down. Leaning forward, he cupped a handful into his paws and washed his face, shaking the droplets from his fur. Once the surface calmed, he stared down at his reflection, blinking a few times and wiping the sleep from his eyes. Then, slowly, he looked around at the healthy foliage, taking in the morning songs of the many Bird Pokémon, the chirps of Butterfree on their daily duties, the scurrying of little feet upon bark and vines as other inhabitants foraged for breakfast. The jungle sounds were very relaxing, so very normal, but beautiful...

_...wait a second..._

Mewtwo looked back at the water, getting lost in his scrutinizing of the tiny rosy body contrasting against the greens and blues, aqua irises developing a rather far-away look to them.

And suddenly, thoughts were made clear, like a remembrance. “Tomorrow is Latias' birthday. _Eee_ , I can hardly wait to see her face when I give her her present!”

' _Wha... what is going on?_ ' the clone gasped, inwardly. ' _What kind of dream is this?_ '

Then he—or in actuality, Mew sneezed. “Oh, gosh, that was strange,” she muttered to herself, wiping her nose. “Guess some Butterfree scales were on the wind.”

' _What is this?!_ ' he continued in distress like it never happened. ' _Am I having an out-of-body experience?! This cannot be real!_ '

It was apparent he was speaking out loud to himself, but Mew did not react in an acknowledging way. She instead fell back to sprawl on the grass, gazing up at the clouds. While Mewtwo had the beginnings of a mental breakdown, his counterpart mentally traced out shapes. She would occasionally comment to herself, which quieted him down so he could hear before it started up again in a seemingly never-ending cycle (though the outbursts did simmer down to mumbles after a while). He began to wonder if he had been drugged when Legion knocked him out, thus causing this strange hallucination of him being manifested inside Mew's head.

Though what made it more confusing was if he _was_ _inside_ the head of Mew... if that was even possible. The thought itself made his own head hurt.

A rather low, melancholy sigh escaped from the lips of the small Legendary, catching his attention. “I bet this is what Mewtwo does when he's bored,” she murmured, shrugging her shoulders. She flipped herself over, then scooted herself to the water's edge, running her fingers in a circular motion through the liquid. “I don't know how he can stand being alone in a large city like that. He really doesn't have too many visitors... not since Pikatwo died...” (Mewtwo felt his heart ache at the mention of his dear friend.) She sighed again. “If I could... if he would let me, and if the Tree wasn't so demanding... I could travel around with him. Maybe then he wouldn't be so lonely. I don't know why no one's bothered to stay more than a few hours. 'S not like a hundred years ago where he would have ripped off their heads for showing up.”

When she giggled, a wave of nostalgia rose up inside him. The giggle he had hated, yet missed so very much... “Oh, Mewtwo... he's changed so much since then. Maybe it's about time I do, too.”

A twinge of sadness tugged at him from somewhere in a subconscious area, realizing this was a memory from not too long ago—maybe. He recalled that as the years had gone by, in between bouts of depression, Mew had slowly been maturing ever since she felt the world take a turn for the worse. Was this one of those very days?

She lightly closed her eyes as she let out a long breath (though it took Mewtwo a couple of seconds to figure it out), head resting against her arms. “Maybe then... things will get better...”

Mew trailed off, succumbing herself to her inner thoughts he caught snippets of when he least suspected them. They were of her typical thinking, he wasn't really surprised about it all. She had always been the one who loved all her friends, who believed everything would get worse before getting better, who saw the world's beauty amidst its ugliness. In a way, it grieved him.

' _Always the hopeless optimist,_ ' he muttered. ' _If only you had known what was coming..._ '

Then her eyes snapped open as she sat up, turning to scan the jungle background. There was a noticeable eerie silence that Mewtwo could have sworn was just filled with Pokémon cries not a moment ago. Mew might have as well, but she was too engrossed in her alertness to mind it. Her ears flicked as she stared intently into the trees, the constant flicking of her vision making the clone feel a little motion sickness. She cautiously levitated a few feet above the ground.

_Click._

Faint as it was, they both heard it, and she whipped her head towards its direction. It was just enough to be skimmed by a smooth cold surface. A splash behind her caused her to spin around and peer at the ripples, bending over for a better, curious look. There was a catch of glint shimmering beneath the surface before there was a sharp jab on the back of Mewtwo's neck. Hissing from the sudden pain, he went to reach for the source when Mew did as well. Tugging whatever it was from the skin (sending another vibe through the neck), she brought it to her line of vision, staring in disbelief at it.

“It's still standing?!” came a gruff gasp from behind, startling her to drop the tranquilizer.

“Shit, it must have been from when it moved!” a second voice growled. “Reload, and don't miss this time!”

“I got it, sir!” a third blurted out before another click was heard.

Almost immediately, a second harsh prick on the shoulder was felt. Her vision started to blur, and a headache ensued, but she remained afloat, if clumsily. Breaths began to become ragged, as did her hearing. Mewtwo could pick out rough uses of language whenever it briefly refocused to normal, for whoever was shouting (possibly the leader) was angry about the other's actions. Then he observed something odd about Mew's behavior. Despite all her wavering, she made not one motion to fly off, choosing only to gaze down where the three disembodied voices were arguing from.

' _Why is she not running?_ '

The three must have noticed as well for the bickering quieted down. “Sir... not doing any...” was picked up from the faltering hearing before it blanked out. Then from the bushes appeared three, no four humans in what was hinted to be hunting gear. The sunlight was either glaring or she was losing her eyesight for their faces were barely visible. From what could be seen, they stood there in bafflement, one scratching his (maybe her) head as they gawked down at the small Legendary. Mew's thoughts manifested themselves in vain attempts to come out as words.

_What's going on? Why are there humans here? How did I... oh Arceus, it hurts so much... hurts to think. Feeling sleep coming... I don't feel good._

She dropped from the air, barely catching herself from collapsing onto her face. Her breathing shallowed out, her arms quaking beneath her. One of the nearest humans flipped her over with a boot, leaving her sprawled out before them. They stood around her, and Mewtwo could feel their stares boring into her. The one that didn't have a noticeable beard grinned and the lips mouthed. The throbbing worsened, causing Mew to scrunch her eyes shut in pain.

_Why... does it hurt... why...?_

Then there was another pinch to the neck, her thoughts faded, and the psycat was left in blackness. All outside feeling dissipated a moment later, and then the pain was gone. He steadily grew nervous, unsure what was going on in this helpless, immovable state. The long silence was suffocating, it made him more anxious and mind-consuming. For how long was she unconscious? What were those humans doing there? Were they planning something? Why her?

Amongst the uneasiness, he felt anger rising in him. Was this what Legion wanted him to see? She got ambushed, that was it? As unlikely as it was, he knew Mew would easily escape from them once she got up. There was no way they could lay another hand on her—

_Blurp._

...as faint as it was, the echo caught his attention. Wherever he looked, it was still black. Great, was he starting to go insane from it now? Unless... could Mew be dreaming?

_Blurp._

It was louder this time. If she was, she might be dreaming about swimming. Mewtwo couldn't help but grin awkwardly at the idea. He was getting worked up over a stupid dream.

“...waves spiked. It's gaining consciousness.”

“ _What!_ I thought it... to be knocked out for a good few months!”

“Well, it _is_ a Mew. Guess we calculated wrong.”

He felt his heart tense. She wouldn't be dreaming something like _that_... would she?

“Should we give it more sedatives then, sir?”

“No, the drug we used must be interfering with the experiments. Can't have it—” The voice continued to speak, but it was now suddenly muffled.

He couldn't care less at the moment what the unfinished dialogue was. His mind was being thrown into shock at what he had heard. ' _It... it cannot be..._ '

A disturbance was evident enough Mew was stirring, the eerie gurgling increasing in volume. Her arms slowly rose, until her knuckles bumped up against a smooth plane that was chilling to the bone. Her chest ached every time she took a breath like it was being compressed. A small thought of worry blipped by, though it went unheeded by Mewtwo. He feared the worst, hoping it wasn't the case. And as she slowly opened her eyes, everything came crashing down on him, revisiting a world he never wanted to see again.

It stung the moment her eyelids lifted, vision blurring for the first minute. A golden orange was what awaited them, a slight glare somewhere in the depths. Fuzzy shapes drifted upward before she (and her clone) identified them as bubbles, or rather congealed bubbles. They stared at the curiously haunting substances until she decided to look past the glaze. For a while it was distorted, all one shade of color with no other distinguishing shapes or lighting. The more she grew aware, the clearer the world beyond was. And Mewtwo wished she had stayed asleep.

The room was similar to what he once knew well: advanced computers against the wall, polished tile floors with garish fluorescents, tubes and wires lining the walls and ceiling, glass cylinders scattered throughout, humans in their bland white coats observing everything. Shuffling and electronic beeps were the ambient sounds next to the gushing of liquid. Unbearable noise... he felt his mind keeping in time to the steady beats, disturbing his thoughts. He tried to focus on the reflection of Mew in the hopes it would all fade to background hums, but as she wasn't looking at it directly, it wasn't viewable.

 _Where am I?_ her thoughts gasped, and he mentally locked on—anything to get rid of that blasted beeping. _What's going on? What is all this? Why can't I move? I'm so cold..._

She tried to take in a deep breath only to start gagging. Her lips closed over a plastic lining, and when she glanced down, she panicked further. A thin tube was lodged inside her mouth—no, it was her throat—and extended down into the bottom of her tank. Attached to various parts of her body were wires, holding her in place.

Outside her glass container, a monitor was rapidly pulsing. “I thought you subdued it already!” a voice snapped.

“I just typed in the coordinates, give it time!” came the immediate defense.

Coming in the line of vision was a thin, furious human man, brows pinching his glasses as his teeth gnashed. He pounded the surface once, emitting a thunderous sound to vibrate throughout the liquid, startling Mew and causing her to choke again. “Knock it off, you stupid creature!” he shouted. “You're going to kill yourself in there!”

“Sir, don't yell at it! You're frightening it further!” Another one much like the first but taller and hairier rushed forward to hold him back. “It'll calm down soon.”

“Is that tracheal tube working? It's not floating in liquid oxygen, you know!”

“Yes, sir, but if you just let it be, it'll calm down and the procedure will proceed smoothly.”

“You bet on your ass it will, or guess who kicks it out on the street?!” He turned to huff in her direction before storming off, shouting for a drink. The second man left without a glance, returning to his seat by one of the monitors. The beeping began to slow down after a few moments, and Mew was now able to breathe without gagging.

Fighting to hold back tears, she brought herself to scan the room. Both she and Mewtwo agreed it was a sterile, uninviting place. Despite the human activity, they were all cold towards one another, avoiding eye contact, working individually far apart and rarely speaking to each other except for arguing over formulas. The most common traits they seemed to share were being scientists and physically languished, otherwise they were like complete strangers. Some, upon closer inspection, looked and acted like they hadn't slept in days.

 _Why would people do this to themselves?_ her thoughts meekly wondered as she tore her eyes away from the humans. _Has this gone on for a while? Maybe... when I was put in here?_

Mewtwo questioned this himself as well. It reminded him of the scientists who aided in creating him. While the years had blurred their faces, he could still remember the tired, but relieved tones when they congratulated each other on succeeding. They had spent grueling long hours, long months on making sure he survived. For all he knew, they must have eaten and slept very little the entire time. It was likely the same situation here. The one raging human only known as “Sir” must be in charge of whatever was going on. He must know that Mew was valuable, that one mistake could kill her. They couldn't afford mistakes—scientists rarely did. However long she was in the tank for was probably as long as they had gone without rest, without certainty.

Mew gagged again when she swallowed (tried to), and leaned up against the glass barrier. When she took another glance beyond, her jaw dropped as her eyes widened in horror.

Not even a yard away was another tank, occupied by a creature suspended in identical fluid, bent backward nearly in half. It was of unknown species, one she nor Mewtwo had ever seen before, but closer inspection revealed to them it was supposed to be a common Rattata. It still had its rodent shape to it, but with a feline touch. The ears were rounded like a normal Rattata's except for the notable pointedness. The buck fangs were replaced with canine teeth, the whiskers nearly absent. From the paws were extended claws, the forelimbs and hind legs strikingly similar to that of a feline's. Its tail caught their attention the most, being extended to twice, possibly three times the length of its body, but still curled at the tip. Whether it was from the vermillion coloring or not, it was a sickly yellow, though the clone was sure it was gray.

But Mew hardly noticed that. She was too transfixed on its eyes. Its cold, blank eyes unblinkingly staring into emptiness.

_...dead..._

“...aw, damn it, Tyson, why didn't you catch this?” a voice snarled out. One of the scientists walked up to the tank and glared at the body, teeth gritting.

“Whaaat, I went on lunch break—oh...” Another one had stepped to his side, grimacing at the sight. He sucked in breath through his teeth. “...you know, the wires could never stick—”

“That's not the point, you dumbbell, it was _your_ post!”

“How the hell was I supposed to know it'd die just when I'd go on my frigging lunch break? And what are the odds the wires would unstick themselves just as it died?”

“Doesn't matter, it's another failed experiment.” Ignoring the rise of exclamations in the room, the human walked over to a computer, typed away, and watched impatiently as the tank drained. The corpse sank down through the hole, and the other scientist pulled open a hidden compartment to drag it out. “That's the third failed clone we've had. We're beginning to run out of options here.”

The human, Tyson, dangled it by its skinny tail, frowning deeply. “It's strange. The fetus would grow normally, so why give out now?”

“Because _someone_ decided to go on lunch break. Science doesn't wait on anyone.”

“You sure it's because the cells stop mutating and it poisons the body... or something?”

Throwing his hands up, the disgruntled human yelled, “I don't know, and I don't give a damn! Just dispose of it while I collect more of the Mew's hair! We used the last of the batch on this one.” He pinched his brows when the man left, grumbling indecipherably as he once more typed along. “How many more embryos do we have in storage?” he asked out loud.

One of the few female scientists, when she pulled herself together, announced, “Due to a tight budget and the shorting out of the freezer, we're down to our last.”

“What tight budget?”

“Our funding is being threatened to get cut by next month. Weren't you there when the contract was being signed?”

“I'm not as high of a class as you are,” he sneered. “Why did no one tell us?”

She scoffed, taking off her glasses to prevent smearing when she face-palmed. “We were quite sure we'd get living specimens because we have a live Mew and advanced equipment. Okay, yes, they'd live to the juvenile stage half-way through the mutation, but then they would suddenly shut down. This is the third time it's happened.”

“Look on the bright side, we've progressed quicker than the first cloning attempt in history,” Tyson blurted out when he returned empty-handed, attempting to bring out the positive. “It took them a year to figure out how to fill in the gaps in DNA. Dr. Fuji followed it as well, even though it did take him longer to _alter_ DNA.”

“We get it, Tyson, what's your point?” she huffed, crossing her arms.

“Well, all he had was a thousand-or-so-year-old fossil to work with. We have a living, breathing Mew.”

“What does this have to do with our failed experiments?”

“...Crap, I had it...”

“You're wasting our time and patience!” the man at the computer snapped, swerving back around to continue punching in numbers. “Go make yourself useful and fetch the last embryo, and pray to your personal god or whatever it _survives_ this time!”

“Wait, wait, I remember! It had to do with the lifespan!”

“So?”

Other scientists had by now given up on listening to him and returned to their own work. The woman and the angry man remained rooted in place. Pointing to Mew, Tyson noted, “There are legends that say it has a special life-force that enables it to live forever. Fuji was familiar with it, and he had tried to copy it. And he succeeded—at the cost of many other experiments, yes, I'm aware of it, but they successfully cloned it!”

Mewtwo felt his counterpart stir in discomfort, though he was sure his stomach had tightened into a knot. How did they get that information? This Dr. Fuji... he never got the scientist's name, but whoever he was... did he somehow survive? A colleague of his? Some of the machinery _had_ managed to remain in working order after the destruction. Did the records still exist? It had to be the only other reason, the project was a well-kept secret, but he knew they had to jot down notes. So how did they get off the island?

“What are you getting at, you better have a reasonable explanation for this,” the woman sighed displeasingly, glancing at her watch.

Tyson boyishly grinned. “What if the clone is still alive?”

Mew flinched, her heart clenching in fear. The impatient man was quick to reply, turning away from the monitor for the occasion. “That was a few centuries ago, and there have been no reports of any sightings or its existence for that matter. It's dead, end of story. Now shut up and go back to your lunch break.”

“No, I'm serious! It may still be out there!”

“Tyson, we're not sending men out there to hunt it down just because Fuji's last words declared it lived,” the female interjected. “For all we know, it killed itself destroying the lab, and even if it didn't, it went into hiding.”

“You sure natural instincts didn't kick in, and thus it found a way to survive in the wild, maybe even produce offspring?”

“Tyson, it was a _clone_ , it _had_ no natural instincts!” Jamming down on a key, the furious scientist quickly stood up to tower over him. “Your arguments are invalid because of lack of proof, how many times do we have to tell you this?! We have a goddamn Mew in our possession, that should be satisfying enough!”

What is this nonsense prattling I'm hearing instead of fingers clacking away and monitors beeping?!” came the sudden outcry when the bespectacled man from before barged into the room. The scientists, startled at his appearance, hurriedly stood before him and bowed apologetically. He leered at them. “What the hell is going on? And you better give me a damn good explanation.”

“You see sir, I was trying to explain to them about the possibilities of—”

“I wasn't talking to you!” he barked at Tyson, who shrank back, hanging his head. “Bridget, what's with this idiocy? Why aren't you at your posts?”

Fumbling with her glasses to put them on, she responded, “We were just about to fetch the last embryo once we discovered MXP-303 was a failure.”

A vein pulsed in his temple, his face darkening. “A _failure?_ ” he seethed through his teeth. “I thought you said you had learned your lesson after the failure of MXP-101.”

“We have, sir, but we have also been experiencing problems lately, and—”

“I don't want to hear excuses, I want to hear success!” He pounded on the nearest tabletop, knocking over cups and spilling the beverages. “We are on a tight schedule! If we don't have a living specimen in the works when they come to see our progress, we'll lose our funding, and we'll have to pay out of our pockets! And guess what we last manually _paid_ for?” His eyes glinted over at Mew, and she shrank far back as she could.

“S-Sorry sir... we'll do our hardest with this one,” she sputtered out.

“There's no time for that, we're going with plan B.”

A scientist huddling over his notes meekly raised a hand for attention. “Sir... the Mew has been unconscious for so long... Err, all we know is that it's a female... but we don't know its ov—”

“There's no _time_ ,” he stressed. “Now I want cooperation this one time. Let's get it out of there, bring out the sonogram, and thaw out the semen. When they come, we'll have a month-old embryo in the process, and _hopefully_ be labeled as acceptable. Since we can't grow it in a test tube, we'll just have to grow it in a surrogate mother.”

“Why didn't we do this in the first place?” one of the humans muttered to himself.

With a silent warning glare, the man nodded in Mew's direction. The woman returned the gesture, and walked over to the computer and clacked away. The fluid gurgled as it emptied, and she was eased down to rest at the bottom of the tank. Once the water was gone from her ears, the wheeze from the tube inside her mouth was clearly heard. The cylinder then was split in half as it withdrew deep into the compartments. Having grown used to the liquid, her vision was watery and her eyes stung, and the cold air of the lab made her shiver. Once of of the scientists (possibly the woman, Bridget) stepped up before her, the tracheal tube was tugged straight out of her mouth, gagging her and leaving an uncomfortable sensation behind. Then one-by-one, the wires were detached from her. Judging by the winces and dull aches, Mewtwo had a feeling these wires weren't exactly suctioned to her skin.

She was too weak to move about and even fight off the human picking her up, so she lay limply against the arm. The others shuffled about, bringing things together and clearing workspace. “Sir” continued to spout out orders and snapped at Tyson to be careful with the equipment when a loud _bang!_ was heard. “Put it on the table, Bridget” was the next demand, and she obeyed. The steely surface jolted her for a moment, and her sight cleared up. Just above her, the woman quickly pulled on some rubber gloves, briefly meeting eyes with Mew. Shivering, the Legendary forced herself to look ahead in time to see one of the scientists bring forth a stubby, cordless device, placing the flat end on her abdomen. The surface was even colder than the table, and she jerked.

“Hold it still, Bridget!” he barked at her, and she pushed her hands down against the sternum to pin her. “Can you bring that a little closer? I don't think it's reading the image.” He lightly pressed it against her again, turning his head away to look at the machine. Because he was in the way, Mewtwo and Mew couldn't determine what it was he was looking at, or even looking _for_. The clone had been around a few hospitals to know it emitted ultrasonic waves into the body. Usually, though, he noticed they were used to show a human fetus.

' _But she is not even pregnant,_ ' he duly noted, growing confused. ' _What are they looking for?_ '

Judging by some groans and a displeasing sigh from the woman, they were unable to find their target. “No sign of ovulation,” the man announced, removing the device.

“I didn't say put it away!”

“Sir, you saw for yourself—”

“That means nothing. We're going to manually fertilize and alter the genomes of one of her eggs in the lab.”

There was a great pause. “You mean... sir, what about the last embryo?”

“Forget it, that was from a different mother, which might explain the failure of the experiments. If it came from the Mew itself, we may have better success in starting fresh.”

“Sir, transvaginal oocyte retrieval is a _human_ procedure!”

“Who says?” With a snap of his fingers, he asked the nearest scientist, “Is there a vaginal transducer on hand?” to which he was given a positive nod. Pleased with the response, he gestured to the outside direction, and after the human left, he pointed at Mew. “It needs to be in lithotomy position. Bridget, you have it covered, or do you need extra hands?”

“She's weakened enough,” she coolly answered. “But extra hands won't hurt.”

“I'll elevate the hips.”

“You already have the sonogram, Tyson will do it.”

He stepped into place without a hint of hesitation, nodded at Bridget, and when the feline was forced into a sitting position, he spread out her legs and supported them up.

Mew immediately began to squirm in her best attempt of a struggle. “Let go of me,” she mumbled, though the man blinked down at her.

“That was a pitiful whimper, wasn't it?” he commented, quirking a brow.

“Indeed...” She skeptically looked at how he held the legs up. “I don't think this is going to work. Looks out of her flexibility range.”

“It should take no more than half an hour. She can handle it.” The quiet whines convinced Mewtwo otherwise.

The moment they brought the needle into view, her stomach (and his) twisted and she resumed fighting them, albeit weakly. “Sir” glared in her direction, which one of his colleagues noticed. “Think we should sedate her some more?” he inquired concernedly.

“We have the equipment, just get it over with.”

Bowing his head, he frowned down at Mew. “I'm not seeing the vulva...” When he reached down to poke his fingers about, she kicked at them, forcing the two scientists to snatch her ankles and lay her flat on the table, pressing on her pelvis to hold her still. “Oh, there it is. Yeah, good call, lithotomy position wasn't going to work well here like this.”

“Make sure to hold it down,” “Sir” added, adjusting his glasses.

The small Legendary was finding herself out-matched by two humans, limited only to moving certain parts of her body as she was compressed further into the table. While still foggy from the sedatives, she was more alert in her senses, and even Mewtwo was finding himself squirming from it. The sonogram's wireless scanner lingered on her lower abdomen as the scientists talked among themselves on what they needed to do; the two were attempting to block them out (Mew was, anyway), wanting to be spared the details.

And then...

At first, she couldn't feel it, but there eventually came an uncomfortable sensation like she was cramping between her legs, spreading upward. And what felt like a squeeze followed after... and there was movement. Her eyes slowly widened, a tingle running down her spine and her lower region at the same time. There were murmurs of “Careful, careful” going around, and Tyson—or Bridget—tightened the hold on her.

What happened next hit her like a kick to the stomach. It might have been for all she knew, but there was no denying she was now in pain. She let out a sudden cry, alarming the humans. One let out a cuss under his breath, and she could swear something was burning inside her.

“She's feeling it. We're giving her more sedatives.”

“Not too much,” “Sir” warned, but gave his permission nevertheless.

Until they stuck a needle into her thigh, the pain was growing intense, more than just a cramp or an internal squeeze. Whatever it was, there was something foreign inside her body, and somewhere down below she could just feel it rub against a sensitive area. “Get it out!” she begged, tears starting to well up. “Whatever you're doing, stop it! It hurts!”

Mewtwo had caught himself about to shout it out as well, until he wondered how it was the internal agony was affecting him. As provocative as it was, even distracting his thoughts, it made no sense how he could feel the pain as well. This had to be another trick, it had to be...

Momentarily, it dulled, and she trembled and moved less, but it was unable to chase away the sensation. Inwardly, she could still feel it slide. Despite it being unwanted pain, her mind was sick enough to think back to it, trying to guess what exactly was going on. She wasn't good at these terms, it was more of Mewtwo's thing (so he managed to catch of her thoughts). Though... the more she thought on it, the less longer it took her to put two and two together.

_They said they were going to... impregnate me... weren't they?_

“Pull it out carefully, we don't need any vaginal bleeding right now,” the one holding the scanning device advised.

“Then stop moving around, the image keeps getting blurred.”

“I'm not moving it...”

_...oh sweet Arceus..._

She lay there in silent shock even when they announced they got what they wanted. The voice of “Sir” demanded that it would be fertilized at once, then Bridget spoke up. But she was only half-listening, and she didn't care, her mind blanked out. Mewtwo hardly paid attention himself, wishing he didn't understand the situation. He mentally went through all that had been happening: capture, sedated into a deep sleep for no more than a few months, altering an embryo so it slowly morphed into another Mew, salvaging for her eggs...

It was of a different procedure, but it was still cloning. He wondered if this was how he came to be, through the manipulations of an embryo tweaked and forced to be the strongest Pokémon in the world. There was no surrogate mother except for the tank he grew in, as far as he knew. He might have been formed in a womb, then was cut out and placed inside to finish growing to his adult form, being kept asleep as a precaution. It was a disturbing thought. He hoped this wasn't the case for Mew.

She remained motionless on the table as the scientists went about their own business for the moment, deaf to them and staring unblinkingly at the light above. Time became non-existent, the surrounding space frozen into place. It was like Dialga and Palkia decided they wanted to go on break—if only from this very room—and hit the pause button. It could be she was now stuck in sleep paralysis, or that she was experiencing the horror of waking up in the middle of an operation. But nothing mattered, to Mew anyway. It was a breaking point, the undeniable outcome she wished she could refuse to acknowledge. This was her way of handling such pressure, emptying everything around her, secretly wishing it was all a nightmare she could wake up from.

Mewtwo could feel her mind crack.

After a long passing of time, if it was still existing, she suddenly jerked, and muffled voices could be heard. The tension sensed by them lasted only for a few seconds before all was quiet again. The internal sensation returned, and she shuddered, closing her eyes tightly. In a repetitive manner, her thoughts echoed through what he was sure were lyrics to a song she knew or stanzas of a poem, or a chant; whatever it was, she was distracting herself to keep from thinking back to whatever was going on below. The more she felt it, the vigorous the recitation. It strangely sounded like a lullaby...

“...transfer complete.”

Their breath caught at those words. It went unnoticed.

“You sure?”

“Positive.” A short pause. “We won't know if it'll survive into the following week. It is fairly young, just starting to divide its cells. We managed to get a second egg along with it, and we went ahead and let it be fertilized on its own. If this one doesn't live, the other will.”

“Mmm, maybe Lady Luck is on our side after all.” There was a deep laugh before it abruptly stopped. “Put it in a cage for now. We'll worry about room later.”

There was a blur of movement above her, the faint outline of one of the scientists picking her up. “Sir, I think she's in shock.”

“It'll get over it.” And the conversation was over.

Everything was deathly quiet as she was carried out of the room as though the subject matter, if any, was too solemn to mention. The walk down the hallway was long, the temperature feeling like it dropped with every step. Any human scientist they passed by was just as cold, hardly if ever stealing a glance (and if they did it wasn't friendly), turning their back on them when in range, and those were the small ones. Mewtwo was sure they didn't like her, the person holding her, or even both. While aware of this, Mew felt no sense of emotion over it. She just didn't care at the moment.

At last, they reached a poorly-lit room lined with nothing but cages. It was silent as well, though the kennels appeared to be occupied. The person paused at one to jerk the gate open before slipping her inside.

“You'll only be in here until we know if we'll be keeping our funding or not,” the human whispered, now identifiable as Bridget. “I'll check up on you daily until then. You're too important a specimen to lose.” She snapped the cage shut (with some difficulty), then sighed, pushing her glasses higher up her nose. “I wonder what it's like to know you're the last of your kind. It must be painful.” Then she left, hands in her pockets.

Mew remained motionless, leaning against the side and gazing across the room. The kennel across from her held a Furret, starved and unkempt. It was probably a specimen used for experiments, but there was no infliction to be seen. When it came more into the light, however, Mewtwo cringed at seeing it was tailless.

Placing its paws flat against the cage, it peered directly at them. “Hey... you're a Mew, aren't you?” it squeaked, indicating it was a female (unless they all sounded like that). “What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be a goddess?”

Mew's response was a blank stare.

The Furret squirmed, scowling. “Well? Aren't you?”

“Did my ears deceive me, or did you say 'Mew'?” Crawling into view in an adjacent kennel was a Spinda, patches over its eyes.

“There's a Mew across from us,” the rodent explained.

“...describe her.”

“Uh... looks to be the size of a healthy Pikachu. Cat-like... long tail, big blue eyes—they're so gorgeous, I don't think even a poet can describe them. Wait... there's something about her eyes. She looks disturbed.” She did a quick scan and quietly gasped. “She's bleeding... oh heavenly Ho-oh, they did something to her.”

“Do you know what it might be?” the Spinda questioned, tilting its head and twitching its ears. “Where's she bleeding from?”

“Down there... you know.” Furret turned to Mew's direction in sympathy. “Honey, did they take your baby? Do you remember?”

Her head slowly dropped to spot the small patch of blood on her fur, but took no heed. Resting a hand upon her stomach, she solemnly murmured, “The exact... opposite.”

Mewtwo wordlessly watched the world go dark like she had fallen asleep. He felt his heart constrict and his breath catch as he waited anxiously, silently reviewing all that had happened. It was a surprise, even though he shouldn't be. There was always going to be attempts at cloning, it was what ultimately brought back the prehistoric Pokémon—for the most part. To create the world's strongest Pokémon was a different issue. He knew these people, they only did this for money, or to satisfy an evil person's desires. There was no love put into it.

Since his birth, it was that fact that had continued to haunt him even after the passing of his nemesis. Another was the lack of remorse in the man's eyes as he drew his final breath. In disregard of his vow to never cross his path, when he had heard of Giovanni being on his deathbed, it was the sign of victory. He'd get his justice in the next life, and he had wanted him to know about it. The weight may have been lifted off his shoulders telling him, but some was held back by the man's reaction: he didn't care. He had no regrets, he made history, he was famous. To hear he had been been a (financial) part of his creation only made him more proud of himself. He had died laughing triumphantly.

Whoever wanted Mew to be cloned had his mindset; he wouldn't be surprised if they idolized him. The scientists implied the files of his creation had gotten out, published for the sake of science. Perhaps they wanted the fame of having _proof_ of an actual Mew clone, made from the cells of a _living_ Mew. If it was the case, she was to be treated well, always healthy to continue supporting a new generation until they tired of her. And because of her immortality... she would be there forever, drugged and forced to be the mother of clones.

' _...oh, Mew..._ '

There was a stir as the blackness opened up to the inside of a roomier cell, almost no different from the previous kennel except for a blueish color. She blinked up at the ceiling, refusing to move. Thoughts instead ran through her head—no, they were more than just thoughts.

 _Lord... why me? Why was I subject to this torture? Okay, what I mean by 'torture' is the lab. I'm not free to go anywhere, I'm on a schedule. You know this already... but I am not fit for this. I can't carry a child that's not from Your hand. Yeah, I love the whole idea of pregnancy, it feels nice and all... but I don't love it, at how I got it. I have issues with this baby not being natural._ She paused when the image of Mewtwo flashed by. _...did You have issues with Mewtwo? You probably didn't, he's still alive. But well... is this very baby meant to live, too? Because honestly... I don't know how much longer I can stand to carry it. It doesn't feel right, like it's not really alive..._

A kick against her ribs distracted her, and she groaned a little. “Oww, did you have to kick there?” she muttered, flipping over to her side. Her hands caressed against her bulging belly, and when the baby kicked again, a smile came to her. “Funny... you always know when I wake up. Maybe we wake up at the same time. Or am I now a slave to your schedule?” She giggled, a heartbreaking sound. Pushing herself up with a groan, she stretched behind her head. “I heard from Bridget I should be exercising more, though I'm not sure if I'm supposed to or not. It's not like they know about the pregnancies of my species better than I do. Mother never got around to talking about it.”

Mewtwo was puzzled as to why she was talking to herself—unless she was talking to the baby? He noticed that pregnant female humans when they were alone sometimes did talk out loud, almost like it was second nature for them. Mew had given her reply then that it was so the child would be able to recognize its parent's voice. In a way, he agreed with her, though by taking his own accounts he was liable to claim it false.

Her sigh brought him back to the present. “I wonder if they'll let us go. Everyone must be so worried by now, wondering where I am. I missed Latias' birthday, I missed Lugia's, Shaymin's, Darkrai's, Celebi's... I even missed Mewtwo's. I make sure to celebrate everyone's birthdays... and I missed them.” She moaned and leaned up against the wall. “I wonder if they're worried... Mewtwo especially. He doesn't like his birthday, but I always make sure he celebrates it—once I found out the date, of course. I don't think he likes being reminded of his age, but he ends up in a better mood by the end of the day. Mewtwo's a good guy... you'll like him. Maybe you two will hit it off, you're so alike. He's never going to believe I got myself pregnant, though. If I tell him why...” Mew shook her head. “No, I won't tell him you're a product of science. I'll just tell him you were an orphan. But if you come out looking like me, then we'll have a problem.”

It hurt to hear her ramble on like normal despite her being part of an experiment. ' _She is acting like this was meant for her. Does she really not mind carrying a man-made child?_ '

“Tell you what, I'll introduce him to you first thing we get out, okay? Oh boy, he's going to be in for a treat, _especially_ if you come out like me. He got used to just one of me, imagine double that!”

“Hey, shut up in there!” a passing scientist barked at her, pounding on the gate before he opened it and shoved a bowl of berries inside. “Honestly, you talk more than my pet Chatot did before I _strangled it_.” He slammed it shut and stormed off.

Mew pressed her paws on the sides of her stomach, almost like she thought it would cover the fetus' ears (which Mewtwo was astonished to realize was involuntary). “Oh, don't listen to him, he doesn't mean well,” she crooned, scooting over to the bowl. “Let's just have breakfast and be on our way, okay? What are you in the mood for?” She picked through the mix, smelling them and only eating those that didn't make her feel sick. She saved the Lum berry for last, savoring it the best she could.

When she (and the baby) was full and happy, she patiently sat at the entrance, scanning the spacious room before she grew bored. She picked out the seeds in the uneaten berries and attempted to make shapes out of them, then flicked them at passing scientists for the heck of it. It made her more giddy; it frightened Mewtwo. She was in what was the closest to a prison cell, and she couldn't be more happier. On the outside, anyway.

Inside, thoughts continued to drift, even asking God for help or just to spill her hidden feelings. From what he could glean from them, she was complaining about her current state. She had a love-hate relationship with the child, but all she was mainly asking for was freedom. She was allowed to roam in a small built-in terrarium for a few hours daily, and was taken out longer once a month for an ultrasound, and that was it. If they needed blood or samples, they did it through the gate, and gave her fresh food and water to keep her well nourished.

He felt that wasn't even half of what had happened.

Every now and then, she'd speak to the child, telling it stories or humming songs she had learned over the years. She was fond of bringing up friends and what each of them were like as individuals. The longer she would talk, the sadder she'd become. Eventually, she'd trail off and only resort to staring at her growing belly, sometimes imaging what the child would look like and the activities they could do, or wishing this had never happened. By the end of the day, she was depressed until she fell asleep.

That was the routine day-by-day as she slowly grew big with child. At one point, she heard from two passing scientists she had entered her third trimester, and she became excited. Though she was straining to hold herself up and was finding it harder to fly around, Mew couldn't wait. The baby would be born, and she would be out of there. Mewtwo found himself wondering about the end result, having never once seen evidence of a child when she was in the Tree.

True to his suspicions, it would seem life had other plans.

She woke up in the middle of the night while cramping. It became uncomfortable enough she sat up and attempted to fall back asleep, but couldn't. Steadily, the pain worsened, and if she moved in any direction, a sharp sting traveled downward through her abdomen. Attempting to stand made it worse.

“What's going on?” she let out a whimper, her breaths accelerating. “Is the baby coming? Oh Lord, please let it just be a false alarm. I don't feel ready yet...”

One of the scientists happened to walk by and hear her feeble cries. Looking in, he scoffed. “Oh, what're you whining about? Go back to sle—” He took a closer look, and his face contorted into bewilderment. Pulling out a small flashlight for a better view, he hissed out a swear and fumbled with the gate. “Get the professor, something's gone wrong!” he called out into the room.

“Is it contracting already?” an unseen human responded back in an equally-surprised tone.

“Damn it, don't ask questions! Just get the professor!” He reached in and pulled her out.

He ended up handling her wrong, triggering another wave of pain. She bit him out of fright and involuntary reaction—Mewtwo knew it was out of self-defense to protect the baby. The man, of course, let out more expletives.

“What happened, Harv?” Tyson asked after a sudden jolt.

“The goddamn thing bit me!”

“You had it coming. Put her on the table.”

Shaking her off, she was laid out as a blinding light sparked to life. When the humans took one look at her, they went wild as well. Bridget pushed herself through and let out a frustrated growl. “She's in her third trimester, she _can't_ miscarry!”

Mew's heart skipped a beat, as did the clone's, and the agonizing vibes were briefly tolerable. _No... no. No, no, no... it has to be a false alarm. Miscarriage? This late?_

“Sir, something's gone wrong!” the woman shouted, catching her glasses when she wheeled her head around. “She's miscarrying!”

“ _What!_ ” the bellow of “Sir” thundered. He raced up to her side, almost pushing her away. His own spectacles hung off the edge of his nose, eyes blazing in fury. “ _Mis_ carriage?! That can't be!”

“For all we know, it's a stillbirth, and the body is trying to abort it itself but got stuck midway due to the size,” Bridget hurried explained, trying to steady her breath. “I-It's also possible the fetus has grown too large for her... so it suffocated.” She flinched when her boss swerved to face her. “She attempts to deliver it... she'll die.” She glanced down at Mew's lower half, covering her mouth with a hand.

“Then cut it out!” he sputtered out, face reddening with rage. “If there's an inkling of life in that thing, we'll revive it! I want it alive!”

Quickly turning away, she nodded. “Okay... let me give her an epidural, and then we'll—”

“There's no time for that! Do it _now!_ ”

Though it was clear she was not in agreement with him, she hesitantly called for some hands to hold her down and surgical instruments. When enough scientists surrounded her (one brought a drape to shield the lower body from view even though he was told off for it), and once the arguments were settling down, the first cut was made.

Mewtwo never heard such a painful scream, nor _felt_ such pain in his life.

The humans were quick to pin her down to keep her from thrashing about as they continued to make the incisions, and it got worse when she felt them reaching inside her body. Mew tearfully begged for an end in between her wails, unsure what bloody mutilations they were doing to her and what the outcome of the child was. She refused to believe them when they were saying she was stuck in a miscarriage, wanting nothing more than for the safe delivery of the baby. And in between screams about its well-being, she pleaded to God for help. A few times, “Sir” roared at the surrounding men to silence her, sedate her or anything, and every single time it failed. One managed to stick a needle in her, but she kept on fighting, her will out-powering them.

Long minutes ticked by before the harsh tugging beyond the drape stopped, and the sound of rushing footsteps faded as they left the room. She felt exposed amidst the penetrating pain, the sensation of warm blood flooding her stomach... and empty. The weight that was in her belly was gone, leaving behind what felt like an impression. Glimpses of scientists walking from behind the cover showed them with red-soaked hands, a few faces splattered. Bridget had yet to be seen, though she could still feel a pair of hands in her innards. Exhaustion fell over Mew, and she could no longer care how much pain she was still in. It would go away eventually.

Mewtwo, however, heard one of her weak thoughts blip by _...my baby..._

“Hey, Bridget, you okay?” a voice soothed past the cloth.

“...I will be,” came her quiet answer. “Just about got the uterus back in place. Want to help me sew her up?”

“Was never good with embroidery. Did you have to make that median incision?”

“I wasn't thinking. The professor was screaming and the Mew was crying... and it's late. Can't tell him that she'll only have a few pregnancies because of this, he'll have my head.”

Mew's paw twitched, almost in a clench.

“...strange how a Pokémon's anatomy may look different from ours, but still function the same way.”

“I know... I wanted to be a doctor because of that.”

“Explains everything, really.”

“You're just jealous—oh, my God!” Bridget backed away into view, eyes wide and jaw dropped in awe. The man she was talking to also stepped back, running into a passing scientist who turned to yell at him before following his frightened gaze. Without Mew looking around, Mewtwo knew from the scuffling the other humans in the room were coming to investigate.

“What's going on here, why's everyone standing around—” Wherever he was in front, the voice of “Sir” stuck in his throat. It was a few moments of silence until he started again. “What the hell is this?! What's it doing?!”

“I didn't know Recover could go that deep,” an awed scientist off to the side murmured.

Shortly after he spoke, the pain had gone away, and Mew slowly sat up. She knocked the drape to the floor to study her body. It was surprisingly normal, there were no signs of scarring or that there ever was a baby. The tabletop and her stomach spotted with drying blood were the only available evidence something had gone on. She ran a hand down her belly, and a freezing vibe ran throughout her body.

Head still hung, she murmured hoarsely, “Where's my baby?”

At the corner of her eye, she noticed the humans tensed up, even “Sir” flinched. A frown deepening on her lips, her ears flicked as she tilted her head, gaze unfaltering. “Where's my baby, Bridget?”

A whimpering gasp shuddering from the woman, she steadied herself to give a reply. “Y-You had a complication... we had to perform a Caesarean section.”

“I want my baby,” Mew interrupted, raising her voice a little. “Where's my baby?”

Choking back a sob, Bridget plainly responded, “It's dead.”

Her blood ran cold as something snapped inside her. Her stomach churned when her heart skipped a beat, and she quaked. “... _dead_?”

The woman covered her face as she nodded. “It was stillborn... it was what I thought.”

“ _Dead?_ ”

“Yes, Mew. I'm sorry, Mew...”

“ _DEAD?!_ ”

Bridget wept, dropping to her knees. “Sir” shook off his surprise and stepped forward. “Enough of this delusion. We still have a second egg on hand, we'll just try again. We forced the first to fertilize, so the fetus must have had an unbalanced number of chromosomes. This one was fertilized by itself, we should have no problem with it when we get in there to fix the genome.”

Mew snapped her head up, baring her teeth at the man before her. Adrenaline pumping through her veins caused her arms and legs to tremble as she lifted herself from the table. “I don't _want_ another baby. I want _my_ _**baby!**_ ” A red film falling before her eyes, she let out an enraged scream. A power surge erupted from her body, the shockwaves pulsing through the air knocked over the scientists, shattered glass, and short-circuited electrical equipment, sparking fires.

A few of the humans recovered quickly and started to run for the exit, possibly to set off an alarm or to save their own skins. Mew raised her hands up, and telekinetically jammed the doors shut. One unfortunate scientist was caught in it, and was crushed before he had time to scream. The sight of blood only seemed to excite her. Using her psychic powers, she pulled wires from a nearby tank and shot them at another, skewering him in the areas she remembered they monitored.

She sensed a presence behind her, but didn't bother to turn around. So much energy was being let off her body, it acted as a repellent, her only protection. She resumed to massacring the room they were trapped in, chucking objects around and finding ways to torture the scientists to their deaths. Mewtwo realized she was repeating the end experiments of the Pokémon she had seen as they flashed through her memories: the eye removal of the Spinda, decapitation of a Doduo's twin head, cut in half much like the Furret's separation of her tail... the body mutation that was of the Rattata fetus. There were more she did he couldn't bear to think on, wanting it to be done with. When more scientists managed to break through to flood in, they were found with shotguns. “Sir” ordered them not to shoot, and they disobeyed, not knowing of her defense. She smirked and ricocheted the bullets back.

When she was certain no others were going to barge in, her head whipped in the man's direction. “I have a better experiment for you,” she snarled, inching closer. He stumbled back into the wall in fear. “Let us stick you full of tubes and force you to carry a child. We shall lock you in isolation, where you shall be forced to bond with it and dream of a better future while hating it all the same. Once several months go by, we shall take you out, lay you on a table, and cut out the child. You shall remain conscious and aware of the pain as you feel them take the baby from you.”

Bridget ran in between her and “Sir”. “Mew, enough, please!” she implored shrilly. “Let us go!”

“Step aside, Bridget. You aren't of my concern.”

“I _should_ be! I never wanted this to happen, I swear! These things happen, it's a part of life! Just please, Mew, have mercy! You're killing us!”

Mew paused, taking the frightened woman in. She didn't look like she was ever touched from her wrath except for being splattered with the blood of her colleagues, but her eyes gave it away that she was traumatized. The longer she stared her down, the more her trembling worsened. For a moment, she felt sorry for her, and even considered her words. Going through her memories, she had been the only one who cared for her in this whole lab. She wanted her to be comfortable... to be her friend. The closest thing to love was from her.

 _She meant well,_ she sighed to herself. _But she helped as well. She despises her boss, and here she is protecting him..._

Narrowing her eyes, she murmured, “If you didn't want this, then you should have prevented this from happening when you had the chance.”

A sickening snap sounded when the professor's head spun a full one-eighty, and the body crumpled. Bridget, tears in her eyes, fell to her knees, raising her hands for Mew who floated away from her reach. “Forgive me, Mew... I kept them off the path in the Amazon as long as I did. I didn't want this to happen... H-Had the baby lived, it would have been trained to be a killing machine. You were never going to see it, you would get pregnant again immediately and the whole cycle would have restarted itself. I didn't want you to be subject to that.” She hung her head, sobbing quietly. “So I... slowly poisoned the baby through the berries. I-I didn't know your body... You've consumed so much it's in your bloodstream... I-It'll take a long time before it's diluted. You won't get sick from it... but your babies will.” With a wail, she bent forward, pressing her forehead to the floor.

The Legendary gaped down at the woman, paralyzed from shock. It was too much to take in... and she was refusing to believe it. _No, it's a lie!_ her mind went into hysterics. _My baby wasn't poisoned! It didn't die! You took it away from me!_ _ **She took it away from me!**_ Her energy boiled over, and in a bright flash, she released it. The red clouding her vision was over-taken by white, and her senses blacked out just when a blast occurred.

...and it was silent. For a long time, everything was disturbingly still. Mewtwo, already close to his breaking point, began to panic. ' _M-Mew, are you there?_ ' he called her, even though he knew he would go unheard. ' _Mew, say something... a-anything! I know you are alive, do not cut yourself off! For God's sake, Mew, come back!_ '

The emptiness continued to greet him. Unsure if it was Mew or himself who was shaking, the clone grew more desperate as the seconds ticked by. No matter where he looked, if he could even move himself around, there was only nothing. Swallowing down a growing sickness, he cried out in a broken tone, ' _Legion, no more of this! I have seen enough! I beg of you, end this nightmare, return me to reality!_ '

The madness weighed too far on his own mind, breaking down from it all. As much as he loved Mew, he knew he wasn't ready to learn—worse, _experience_ —what she went through. His voice faltered, stopping any more screams he needed out of his system. The despair surrounded him, tightening up to suffocate and leave him in the blank slate.

_...I did this?_

He let out a gasp, straining his ears to listen, hanging onto the echoes. ' _Mew?_ '

_...no. No, I-I couldn't have. I—_

She abruptly cut herself short, and the clone's heart froze. What was going on? Those were her own thoughts, her voice. Why did it sound like she was struggling?

_No one will believe me when I say I killed... what? Whose blood...?_

There was a small whistling not far in the distance, and a hacking cough joined in. The blackness quickly gave out to a deep, empty blue, and Mewtwo felt a jerk as Mew hurriedly sat up, choking and heaving up her contents. When she got her breath back, her wide-eyed stare fell upon a demolished computer before her. Glancing about, she noticed a sea of debris surrounding her. Beyond that was desert landscape, a dust storm looming on the horizon.

Slowly taking in a breath, she looked down on herself. She was covered in a thin film of dirt, but beneath that was the unmistakable color of blood drying into a deep pink. Sitting up on her knees, she caught a glint at the edge of her peripheral vision. A slight tilt to its direction revealed it to be a pair of bent, cracked glasses. When she crawled over the hot surface to pick it up, she recognized the familiarity of the frames almost immediately.

Shutting her eyes, she dropped them and willed an image of a green field with crystals scattered throughout to pop into her head. As though carried away by wind, the burning floor was replaced with a cool silky feeling (complete with a splash sound effect) and tiny prickles from when she fell forward.

There came a startled yelp, followed by an astonished cry. “Mew, you're alive!”

“Of course she is, otherwise we wouldn't be here,” a scoff of a second voice answered it. “We lived here how many years?”

“Shut up, my memory's not as great as it used to—is that blood?”

“Arceus, it is! Smells like human!”

Rolling over, Mew's eyes refocused on a crystalline structure suspended high above, squinting in the bright shine it gave off. Peeking into view were two worried Omastar, shuffling nervously in place. “...you don't look good, Mew,” the one on the right pointed out. “Where have you been? The Tree has been calling for you for months now. Can't remember the number...”

“Eight, nine months,” its companion stated.

“Oh, yeah. Some friends of yours came by as well. They were looking for you. That red one was in hysterics when she couldn't find you anywhere here. Brought along a few others for a search party. It was crazy.”

“Then there was that one who was only here for a few minutes before the cells came in to throw him out. Looked like you, sort of. He sounded surprised when we told him you hadn't been here in months.”

“That reminds me, we need to send someone out to let them know she's back.”

Frowning down at her, the left Omastar said quietly, “I don't think she's completely back, if you know what I mean.”

“...yeah, you're right. She hasn't blinked or said anything. It's creeping me out.” It stared back for a few moments. “Let's go get some herbs for her.”

“And berries to wash it down.” They nodded, and squirmed away.

Once they left, Mew whimpered, scrunching her eyes shut. In her mind's eye flashed the many faces of the scientists, knotting her stomach enough she forced herself to think about the other Legendaries. She only felt more ill, letting out a moan of torment. She wasn't bringing herself to keep herself away, the thickening of the darkness a sign she was growing unconscious. Before she succumbed to it, she drew in a shaky, painful breath, letting out in a hushed whisper:

“My God, my God... why hast thou forsaken me?”

And everything was silent one last time.

*~*~*

Mewtwo struggled to draw in breath as he regained consciousness, body quaking in such heavy sorrow, he felt he had no strength left. Tears stung his eyes when he felt the lump in his throat rub against him wrongly, his voice trapped beneath it. He was cold, and his heart hurt with every beat. His arms ached from being held above his head for so long, his knees stiff and glued to the floor he was kneeling on. Lifting his limp head, his lips brushed up against cool skin, and he found himself breathing in lukewarm air that he felt he should know, but couldn't register. Then it was pressed against him, covering his mouth and leading him in a hard kiss. He moaned in a lamented tone when he returned it in a half-hearted manner, knowing deep inside he wasn't in control.

His head was tilted back painfully, forcing his neck to hold it up against his will. Thrown into another tremor, he brought himself to open his eyes, crossing visions with the demonic eyes of his beloved above him. She separated space with a toothy smirk, running the tips of her claws against his cheekbones. With a lick to the nose, she released him, and in his weakened state, he fell limp but held suspended by his numb wrists. Without even a small chuckle to accompany the unambiguously-triumphant grin, Legion left him be, slipping out of the room.

The clone hardly ever noticed. He fought a losing battle to uncontrollable sobs as he mournfully wept for Mew.


	12. Broken

“ _Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain... And saith unto him,_

_All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”_

_\-- Matthew 4:8-9_

*~*~*

September nights were usually fairly mild in the Johto region. However, a cold chill lingered in the camp that night, and a fire did little to heat them up. Not that it would have mattered if they _did_ notice. Their anxiety was enough they couldn't care if they slept or ate as they searched for Mew and Mewtwo, and medicinal herbs for Celebi around the clock. While expected to live, he was still recovering from the attack and had to remain at the site as much as he wanted to join in the searches. Mesprit had chosen to keep him company and be the main healer (even with Deoxys jokingly calling her the “personal nurse”, much to her chagrin).

After the last group returned for the night and Latias and Manaphy went off to sleep, they met around the fire for a meeting, huddled up with little physical contact. The phoenix gravely started it off, his eyes appearing sunken in from exhaustion and worry. “It's been about forty-eight hours, give or take, and there is still no sign of either Mew or Mewtwo. They have left no traces, and even if they did, none of us have been able to pick it up anywhere.”

“It's like they disappeared off the map. What the hell, Mew,” Raikou sniveled lowly from where he slouched. His sister was too tired to even give him a small swipe. She just gave him an aside glare in warning.

“Your argument is invalid,” Rayquaza grunted.

“Like yours is any better,” Palkia snorted, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, what were you thinking? So apparently, according to you, Mew is suffering from some form of 'sexual withdrawal syndrome' in that she finally snapped, thus she beat up Celebi to screw him, but she failed and stole Mewtwo away. How does _that_ make any sense?”

“Don't judge me, it makes sense in context!”

“We know Mew long enough to know she would never do that,” Shaymin piped up, having altered to her Sky Forme. “And besides, prior to that, she had been avoiding the lot of us—and by 'lot' I meant the males—and had been having a hard time sleeping. Actually, come to think of it... I don't think I ever saw her sleep the whole week.”

“I'm telling you, it's the hormones! They attack your brain and take control of your body!”

“ _You're just saying that because you're incapable of scoring with dames,_ ” the alien quipped under his breath.

Cresselia smacked him.

“Can we stay on the subject, _please?_ ” Ho-oh sighed heavily, pinching his brows. “We're wasting time that could be spent on finding Mew and Mewtwo.”

“Or sleeping,” Giratina coughed to the side, quickly fanning himself with a wing. Then he added with a smirk, “You think they are as we speak?” A few Legendaries snickered to themselves.

“Giratina, this is serious!” the Sky Guardian snapped, irises gleaming in the firelight.

“So am I.”

Wanting to swipe at him, he resumed like he hadn't spoken, “We don't know the situation behind it all. All we know is that Mew isn't acting herself. If she proves to be wild, Mewtwo may be in danger—that we _all_ may be in danger. If she is unable to control herself, then this world will die.” Lugia raised a feather for a correction, prompting him to harshly explain further, “ _For good._ ”

“May we ask _why?_ ” Groudon grunted with a glare.

Uxie stepped forward, lightly touching Ho-oh's wing for silent permission. When he backed off, the Knowledge Legendary took over. “Have you forgotten about Mew's ability? She is believed to have the DNA of _all_ Pokémon, and thus she should be able to create all the species, possibly more. We do not know how the first Mew did it, whether she had a mate or not. But if Mew were to die, so would the world with the last of us.”

“Who says we need to recreate every single species?”

“Arceus, dumb-ass,” Kyogre gurgled to himself, though the others heard him.

“What was that, fish sticks?!”

“ _Arceus_ commanded us to,” Uxie echoed in a louder tone, scowling at the land titan. “This entire planet cannot be filled with just thirty-three species. There needs to be thousands, the way it was meant to be. Mew is the key to achieving that.”

The land titan grunted. “And that means the twenty-five of us all have to knock her up however many times it takes to fill the whole earth.” Giratina, Deoxys and a few others quickly covered their mouths or ducked to giggle.

The shudder running through the fairy was so subtle, only Ho-oh noticed it. “It may not have to come to that.”

“Right, because Mewtwo will have taken all the goods for himself. He'll spoil the fun for us.”

“Enough of this!” Shaymin screamed up at Groudon, face contorting in rage. “Please, no more! This is a matter of life and death, and you're treating it like a joke! How can you make assumptions like that?!” They stared down at her like she had suddenly spouted out a wave of expletives, slowly glancing at each other from the corner of their eyes. Shaking her head, she choked out, “Do you not care about this world anymore? About Mew? She and Mewtwo are in trouble, and yet th-these... _obscene_ jokes... They have to stop. This is our _future_ we're talking about, not the past.” She then hung her head, covering her eyes with a paw. Slowly, she reverted back into her Land Forme as she broke down before them.

Everyone, the titans especially, felt awkward at the sight of her emotive state, and they averted their gazes to the trees as the silence deepened. Their thoughts wandered to other matters, though some grew notably depressed.

There was a cough off to the side, followed by a slight groan. They turned their attention to Celebi making an effort to sit himself up against Mesprit's demands. He only held up a hand to silence her as he looked up at the Legendaries. “I... I can't believe you would think of Mew that way,” he croaked out, visibly trembling. “Sh-Shaymin is right... our future is important... not about someone's s... sex life. If any.”

His arms gave out under him, the Lake Guardian promptly catching him to hold him up. After another painful cough, he continued, “And all those theories... they can't be true. Mew didn't attack me, she never would have. No... it was something else pre... tending to be her. I saw it... i-in those eyes.”

“We all saw it, Celebi,” Lugia grunted, folding his wings. “Mew was getting ready to kill you.”

“It had nothing to do with her wanting sex... or anything of the like. Don't tell me... none of you saw her cut.”

“What cut?” Ho-oh inquired, brows knitting together. “I saw no signs of injury.”

“On her... left arm.” He made a feeble swiping motion down his arm. “There was so much blood... she was so pale... I-I couldn't believe it...”

“What are you saying, Cel?” Cresselia spoke up worriedly. “You implying she cut herself?”

When he nodded, a few murmurs rolled through the crowd. Latios was shaking his head in near-disbelief. “There's no way she would have. I had seen her a couple of hours before, she seemed fine then. Except she _did_ have an argument with Mewtwo.”

“ _Was it a lover's quarrel by any chance?_ ” Deoxys blurted out, a hint of a smirk in his voice.

He glanced up at him with a raised brow, but answered nonetheless, “Sounded like it. From what I gathered... as confusing as it was, considering that Mewtwo had been beating me up shortly before, they're rather close. They actually may be mates.”

“ _Wait, wha? You were beat up?_ ” the alien interrupted, drowning out the last part of his statement. “ _But you said you ran into a tree!_ ”

“ _Mewtwo_ said it,” Heatran corrected him, rolling his eyes. “You were getting ready to play some stupid card games at that moment.”

“Like I was _saying,_ ” the Eon dragon stressed while glancing at them, “while they were arguing, I heard Mewtwo mention something about them having 'more than one intimate moment together', or something along the lines of that. From what _I've_ gathered, they might be mates.”

Some of the larger Legendaries lost their balance while the others gaped at Latios. Only Ho-oh seemed unfazed enough to speak, “And when two beings are mates, then some form of intercourse most likely has happened, thus the 'intimate moment' part.”

“So Mewtwo banged Mew?!” Entei gasped, eyes bugging out and jaw unhinging. Suicune walked away elsewhere, not wanting to deal with him anymore at the moment.

“We can't draw to conclusions about that—”

“So the reason for Mew attacking Celebi and stealing Mewtwo away was not due to a form of withdrawal syndrome, but because she's pregnant?” Rayquaza snapped his claws together. “It all makes sense now!”

“Mew's not pregnant,” Moltres huffed.

“Yeah, we would have heard it,” Zapdos quipped. His sisters and peers sent him death glares.

“I didn't say they _are_ mates, I said they _might_ be,” Latios sighed, pinching his brows.

Darkrai frowned a little, resting a hand under his chin. “If they are, it doesn't make sense why they wouldn't be together this whole time.”

“Yeah, well, you and Cresselia are together, but you aren't mates,” Palkia snorted. “Though come to think of it, you're _always_ together.” He looked between them in suspicion as the phantom ducked his head, a visible blush burning on his cheeks. The swan found herself strangely interested with the sparks flying from the fire.

Giratina smacked the Spatial Legendary with a wing. “Shut up, idiot, you're not helping.”

“I'm trying to make a point!”

“It didn't make sense, now shut up.” He slapped him again.

“Stop hitting me!”

“I don't think it matters at the moment if the two _are_ having some form of relationship,” the Sky Guardian intervened (sending the renegade a warning look). “All we can agree on is that Mew is not herself. There is something else at work here, but whatever it is, it's not a good sign. With Mew going rogue, it puts our fate on the line, and it's her decisions that determine if we live or die. Whether or not Mewtwo is involved in this is not for us to make assumptions. If what Latios says is true...”

He closed his eyes with a slight shake to the head, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. His voice lowered somberly when he looked back up. “Mew is the key to our survival. It is from her that all life shall come to pass. However... she is a believer of life-mates, and thus multiple mates do not set well with her. This is just a guess, but it's possible the stress of this duty has finally taken its hold on her. And out of some desperation of feeling like she had to choose, she went with the one who will most likely be compatible with her. She and Mewtwo will create life together... if that's what she wants. Only time will tell what will become of us, if we get along, or fight to the death.”

He kept his beak shut for a long minute, trying to get his emotions under control and waiting for anyone to speak up. There were some restless shuffling from the Legendaries, but no other sound was made, except for Shaymin sniffling beside him. Most of them had their heads down or tilted back, generally avoiding eye-contact. The emotional atmosphere pushed down on them, compressing their hearts and making them feel ill.

Ho-oh then let out a sigh to help release tension from within. “I feel we need to pray.”

It snagged their attention. The more solemn of the group only glanced up before nodding. Others, like Groudon and Giratina, stared at him like he spontaneously combusted. “You're serious?” the land titan growled.

“I know we're not the praying type, but when it comes to times like this, we don't have a choice.”

“I have to agree, what's the point?” Kyogre remarked, though he was more skeptical than pessimistic. “What's praying going to do? We going to expect Arceus or whoever to show up and give us more pointless instructions?”

“You don't have to join us if you don't feel comfortable about it,” he simply stated. “You may even leave if you want to. I won't stop you.” He held out his wings to the two nearest Legendaries, Shaymin and Moltres. They grabbed hold without a word, then reached out for another hand. Mesprit aided Celebi over when he had moved to stand, prompting her brothers to join in. Others helped form the circle, some were more hesitant, such as Deoxys who grumbled about how dumb it sounded, but went ahead to hold hands anyway. Much to the surprise, but delight of Latios, his sister and Manaphy rushed over from the forest, crying rivers. Slowly, the giant and older Legendaries made up their minds and squeezed themselves in (though some, like Rayquaza, had to improvise if they couldn't clasp hands).

Giratina was the only one to remain motionless, a frown of disappointment on his face. “Let me get this straight: we're praying to a being who may-or-may-not exist, and who may-or-may-not care for us.”

“It's all we can do right now,” Darkrai breathed out.

“Why, what's it going to do for us? I've heard people say their prayers, but look where _that_ got them.” He snorted. “For all I know, Arceus is too busy to listen to us.”

“Who said it was Arceus?”

He rolled his eyes. “Well gee, he was the only one who showed up at all.”

“Is it because you still have issues with him?” Dialga muttered, Palkia and Regigigas keeping a hold on his crystalline wing. He was turned away from the renegade to see his glare, though he twitched a little upon feeling the stare.

“If you don't want to pray with us, Giratina, then you are free to leave,” the phoenix assured him. “We just ask of you to keep Mew and Mewtwo in your thoughts.”

He stood there looking incredulously at the group, stomping in place while grumbling under his breath. Finally, he grew too frustrated and pushed himself in between Darkrai and Heatran with a glower. He glanced down at the two, and with a huff, lowered his wings for them to take a hold of. They nodded up at him before turning to Ho-oh. He sent the ghostly dragon a mellow look before bowing his head.

It took a few seconds for him to think of the first words to say, then they hesitantly stumbled out. “...Our Father in Heaven... we come to Thee as... a family group in a state of sorrow...” He felt his wings being lightly squeezed, and his heart lifted a little. (There was a quiet scoff possibly from Giratina, but it was too far off to know for sure.) Ho-oh quickly took a breath. “We know Thou hast spared us so for the sake of Thy work, that it may come to pass as it was declared in the days of its beginnings. Ye know of our weaknesses, of our failures...” There was a short pause, and he swallowed. “...we have let Thee down, have gone as far as to forsake Thee.

“Lord... we come to Thee for Thy merciful hand in this dark hour. Please help us... protect us from this evil which plagues this land... we have strayed into its grasp. We realize now that we cannot do this on our own.” Somewhere before him, he heard what may have been a mumble of agreement. “We ask of Thee to watch over our dear friends, Mew and Mewtwo, precious souls of Thine... wherever they may be. Keep them close... they need Thee more than we do. But we also ask of Thee to guide us to them, to bring them back... to deliver them from their inner demons. Save them—”

His voice caught, and he struggled to choke the words out as his eyes watered behind their lids. With encouraging, tighter squeezes from Shaymin and Moltres, he found the strength and opportunity to redo the sentence while he began to crack. “Lord, please bless them with safety. If not from sin, then from a premature death. They cannot return home to Thee at this present time... not while in this filthy sin... n-not while they are so broken. We beg of You—Thee... mend us together again... make us whole again... for our children's sakes... for everything. F-Fill us all with love... with the strength of Thy Spirit, and forgive us... forgive us of our i... iniquities. We all say these from th-the bottom of our hearts... in the name of Thy Son... the Savior, Christ Jesus... amen.”

A chorus of “amen”s slowly weaved its way through the group. It was only after he was sure it was done with that the phoenix cast his eyes about. Many had sorrowful looks as they stared at him, some weeping silently (few like Latias and Entei were fighting back sobs). Everyone still held hands, refusing to move from their spot or to even wipe away tears. Ho-oh was aware he was close to crying himself, though he tried to ignore the watery film clouding his vision. When he locked eyes with Giratina, he noticed the solemn gaze in his scarlet irises, almost that of a far-away look. The moment he blinked, he was more aware he was staring.

It was then a lone, silver tear dropped down his face, and he briefly nodded in his direction. “Amen.”

Ho-oh smiled as he wept.

*~*~*

He couldn't sleep that night. He couldn't because he didn't want to. And he didn't want to because he didn't care.

Enough time slipped by that Mewtwo hardly even noticed he _was_ tired. As much as his body wanted its rest, he refused to take heed of it. All he did was slump against the wall, staring blankly at the floor with dry eyes. His thoughts were fixated on the harsh past of his counterpart at first, then they gradually melted away into nothing when it was burned into memory, leaving a hollow, burning space. There was no indication he knew of Legion's presence when Mew had entered the chamber with a pleased expression. Even when the shadowed shackles released him, he only fell and remained motionless on the floor. Somewhere inside his psyche, he caught word of her ordering him to leave the room to relieve himself, and he slowly forced himself up to trudge by wordlessly to the next room. He was vaguely aware of a chill and what may have been the exit to the outside, but the clone easily pushed it from mind. When he finished up, he returned and at last felt the need for a long rest.

Mew then paused before him, softly laying her paws against his chest to bring him to a halt. She stared for a while into his dim eyes before waving her tail back and forth in front of his face. Mewtwo barely even twitched, not once glancing away. Chuckling to herself, she skimmed her claws against his jaw, then leaned forward and licked his chin. Not a movement. Pressing herself into his torso, she planted a kiss to his mouth, easing it open to poke her tongue inside. Her hands kneaded his shoulder blades and sternum sensuously as she wrapped her tail around to lightly fondle his limp appendage.

He let out a moan, and slowly shook his head, pulling away. “No,” he mumbled, closing his eyes. “I will not...”

Legion seethed at his response. “You must be stronger than I thought. Your heart is broken, yet your spirit remains whole.”

“...even my spirit is broken...”

“Then should you not care what you do anymore?”

He swayed in place, forcing Mew to move him against the wall. He slid down to a painful sitting position, exhaling out a shallow breath. “Not anymore...”

Entangling her tail around his waist, she straddled his chest. “Then you shall be able to do as I say from now on, Mewtwo. And we will start off by having you submit your will to me.” She ghosted a kiss onto his nose. “You are mine, to forever satisfy the wants of this body. You shall obey every word that leaves these lips,” a quick lip-locking, “to follow the sound of your beloved's voice. If she tells you to come, you shall come. If 'move that mountain' is ever mentioned, you shall move said-mountain.” She ducked down to run her tongue against his throat. “You shall answer when called upon, shall go wherever she goes...” During the short pause, she scooted down to kiss his chest, and her voice lowered to a sultry purr. “...and you shall play along when she wants you to play.”

When she pressed numerous kisses to his belly, the clone shuddered beneath her, his trembling hands reaching up to grasp her shoulders. “...I-I cannot,” he gasped, though the crack in his voice gave it away.

Mew slyly slid one of his hands along her body. “Of course you can, Mewtwo. You and Mew are mates for life. Anything goes, if that is what you are worrying about.” She clamped her lips around a finger.

“No... I will not touch her...”

“You are too confused right now, Mewtwo. You know not what you are talking about.”

“She is undeserving of me...”

Growling, the tiny feline lifted herself up to take hold of his face, glaring into his eyes. She grew more furious when she saw the light flicker inside. “You are too delusional to understand your own words, Mewtwo,” she snarled, digging her claws into him. “Can you not feel the fire burning through your veins right now, your heart pumping in excitement? You are close to receiving the desire you have longed for your entire life. All it took was a simple kiss to her lips for you two to be committed to one another, and you refuse to take the next step. You two have waited long enough! You _shall_ be the mate of Mew, and you _shall_ consummate!”

He tried to turn his head away when she harshly forced him into a kiss. The moment his mouth opened to welcome her in, he was suddenly aware he had no control over his body. His fingers greedily searched and caressed her figure, pulling her in. She hoisted herself further above him, forcing him to slide further into a reclining position. His tail hooked around to teasingly rub against the bulbous end of her own limb, bringing out a carnal, gurgling moan from her. Desperately struggling to keep himself from falling and to pull himself together, Mewtwo quickly and coarsely bit at her tongue and lips in the hopes she'd fall back.

While she gripped him hard enough to cut his cheeks open, all she did was give a rumbling chuckle as she pulled away. Gasping for breath, he spat out “Mew is not mine to do with!”, wincing at the stings.

“You arrogant mortal, of _course_ she is _yours!_ ” Legion hissed. “You are bound by life, by spirit! All that is left are for your mortal bodies to cleave. Do not lie to me any further, you have been desiring for her love. You cannot deny under oath. She has been yours since your first kiss!”

Mewtwo stared back like he was in a daze. “...how?”

Mew deeply scowled, then took a breath to fight back a frustrated holler. “' _How?_ ' Have you forgotten what Mew told you? What _I_ told you? The kiss is binding, you promised your loyalty as part of the agreement. That was several months ago. However... you took it to a high level of commitment, almost celestial. There were very, _very_ few members of her species that took it as far as you two did.” Taking one of his hands, she flattened the palm against her chest. “Your hearts were open at that very moment, making it perfect for a special connection to develop. You felt in your heart the sorrow and anguish she has gone through like you were there in person. Imagine what she is feeling from _you_ in the afterlife.” Vision falling onto the blood raining down his face, she leaned forward to lick it up.

He let loose a trembling breath, scrunching his eyes shut as his fingers twitched against her fur. As much as he hated to admit it, Legion was right. The horrific memory of Mew's was more than just filled with pain. Every thought he heard had her emotions striking his heart, from excitement and joy, to heartache and anger. The fear and confusion from when she awoke inside the tube... her being forced to be pregnant... then torn between loving and hating the child... Mewtwo understood what she had been through, but hers was different from his own experience, almost the polar opposite. What made it worse was the stripping away of what had remained of her purity, leaving her with nothing except the breath of life.

She was forced to grow up.

No, that wasn't growing up. Loss of innocence doesn't entirely make one a mature being. She was mentally tortured for almost two years, which in turn nearly ended in death. The whole time she was unresponsive, what was she thinking? Did she replay the entire event in her head? Were the spirits, or at least the memory of the scientists haunting her? Had she made a completely different world for herself, a different ending?

...did the child ever cross her mind?

Remorse for her increased the longer Mewtwo thought back on it, wishing he had spent more time with her like his gut feeling had told him to. She was unable to sustain herself, he couldn't bear to leave her behind. Had it not been for the bond between Mew and the Tree (and him being unwelcome), he may not have had to. At least the others had thought of her in some way, but for how long was she alone? As he stared back at the smirk growing on her once-smooth features, he remembered the two Omastar that showed some sympathy for her. Did they give up on her much like the other inhabitants did?

He let out a sorrowful sigh. “Why Mew?” he murmured, almost inaudibly.

“What about her?” Legion questioned back, raising a brow.

He inhaled deeply. “Why did it have to be her? She was so innocent... Why would... God allow her to suffer like that?”

“That is like asking why bad things happen to good people. How the hell should I know, I do not even go near God, let alone _talk_ to Him.” She snorted, leaning back. “She must have deserved it for all I care.”

Mewtwo immediately jumped to her defense. “Mew did not deserve it. No one does...”

“You can argue the wicked do not as well, but guess what the outcome was?”

Another shiver ran through his body before he willed himself to push her off him, attempting to stand back up. The moment he did, his wrists were seized upon to hold him against the wall. He didn't bother to struggle, he was too weakened enough he couldn't stand for a long period of time and had to sit back down. Legion wickedly grinned behind a sneer before turning to float off.

Gritting his teeth, the clone growled out, “I heard about your plan.”

Freezing in place, she glanced back at him, eyes frighteningly radiant. “You know nothing.”

“All I know is you are bringing back the Tree of Beginning and you want her pregnant. Why?”

Narrowing her stare, she snarled out, “Whatever gave you that idea? I said nothing of the sort.”

He only matched the gaze, trying his hardest not to tense so much he would tremble. Slowly, her eyes widened, a grimace clenching her teeth. “You... you cannot have figured it out on your own,” she hissed. “Who told you? It was _her,_ was it not?”

A noticeable shiver quivered through her body as her breaths quickened. Mewtwo hurriedly braced himself when she turned away, her hands curled into tight fists. “Sh... _shit_... I had completely forgotten... She was a spirit, of _course_ she would...” She whirled back around, causing his heart to leap in shock at the sight of her flashing eyes. Floating into his face, Mew growled out, “How much did she tell you?”

He had to fight himself to keep from flinching and stammering. “A little, admittedly. But enough was said that it explains why you are so anxious to let me succumb to my urges. She was unable to tell me about the Tree, however, I believe I was waking up then. Or—and I am taking a wild guess here—you discovered a flaw, and attempted to take her from me.”

It was obvious Legion was in a fit of rage, he could feel the evil presence pressurizing around them. Despite his claims to be a spirit, he was good at controlling facial and bodily emotions, though the eyes darkened and the pupils shrank. “What about herself?” was the next breath, strangely constricted. “Did she say why I chose her and not you?”

Mewtwo frowned a little, biting his lip. “She... _briefly_ mentioned it. But she does not know why.”

“That is still proof she _knows!_ ” the demon snapped. Mew's tail missed the clone by a few inches when it slammed into the wall, cracking it. “And the longer she's there, the more she discovers herself and the plan! Damn, damn, DAMN!” Her energy built up enough she took out her anger on the wall, floor, the ceiling, anything she felt like hitting while avoiding her captive.

He stumbled forward when he ducked, but caught himself before hitting the floor. He almost didn't realize he was free until she screamed out “Fools, why did you unhand him?!”, and he was snatched back. His head sharply whacked against the brick, bringing him to his knees in pain. She then grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to straighten up, pushing him into the wall. He choked back a cry when he felt his sensitive cord squeeze.

“I _knew_ I should have stuck with you!” she hollered, her voice rippling through the room and him. “The plan would have gone much more smoothly! You may be the strongest alive, and thus more difficult to keep you in control, but you would have been indestructible! The other Legendaries would have been dead within hours, and Mew would have had no choice but to sell her body when you demanded of it! She would have delivered the first child and be prepared for another one by now! And the Tree! _Oh_ , the Tree would have fed on enough energy to last a good millennium! But _no,_ she had to get in the way, and change everything!”

She paused, the hateful glare softening to a thoughtful stare, her grip loosening. He cautiously bent his head to release his cord from the pressure, still keeping direct eye-contact. “However... though the plan may have taken longer... it still has a better chance of success,” she slowly murmured. “If I was to remain in your body, I would have been unable to change the unborn child to my liking. I would have had to wait until I could touch it. Babies fresh from the womb are occupied with a sinless spirit, they cannot be touched by evil. However... if this body becomes pregnant, I can insert a spirit of my own before God allows one to enter it. It will take over and prevent another one from casting it out. It will be their body... a body we were forbidden to have.”

She quietly let out a chuckle, a sinister, maddening grin splitting her face. Steadily, her laughter increased in mania the bolder her voice grew. “We will raise a physical army and live, _live_ on a planet we will inherit all to ourselves! An earth that will officially be the birth place of the third rejected by God! Lucifer will gain his own eternal body, just like we _all_ will! _All_ of Elohim's children will have gotten their bodies like He wanted! It would be like the War never happened! A body! It was all we ever wanted, Father! None of Your children would have been in this mess had You just let us have one! We would have behaved, we all would have lived with You forever as one big, happy family! That is all _You_ ever wanted, and You would have gotten it had Lucifer been sent down instead of Jehovah! Who is imperfect _now, Father?!_ ”

Mewtwo ducked his head and scrunched his watery eyes shut, wanting to get away from the madness enshrouding him. The image of Mew screaming up into the heavens was disturbing to him, it was unlike her. It was something he would do, but this was crossing the line. The way Legion was doing it, it was like he was cursing God while laughing in His face. No, that was too mild—why is he reflecting on it? This was wrong, he would never do something like this, could never tell off the one who let him live.

...could he? Did he?

The cackling finally faded away, leaving behind an unpleasant ringing and emptiness. His head was lifted back up, and his eyes involuntarily opened. Mew's face was still contorted with the smile of a maniac, irises glaring deep into his soul. He shivered, attempting to move his arms to push her away. They remained limply pinned to the wall, though they inched upward to show effort.

She just laughed. “How pathetic. You are just giving up so easily. It is a wonder we have yet to consummate.”

“I do not know what you are planning, but leave us out of it, please!” he implored, fighting back tears. “So you want a body. I am sure you will get one eventually.”

“Oh, did I not tell you? As an evil spirit, I cannot get a body. Ever.” Glancing down at herself, she quickly added, “Of course, as a spirit, I can possess _other_ bodies, but I cannot have one of my own.”

“Because you... rebelled?”

“Precisely. The body is God's gift to all mortals. It is His greatest creation and is one of the greatest gifts. To get it, one has to be born of parents, of course.” She glowered, scanning him up-and-down. “Though there _are_ exceptions... I suppose.”

He wiggled uncomfortably. “What are you getting at?”

“If a spirit is allowed to live inside a man-made body, then surely a demon can have one of its own!” she snapped. “There should be no reason why God would make an exception for you and your clones! All the other clones died in their tubes, so why not you? What makes _you_ special?”

Mewtwo only shook his head. “I have asked myself that many times, so I do not know. Mew thought it was because I was made for her, but it cannot be that. Besides... she only said that because we were...” He quickly pushed the thought from mind.

Legion only smirked. “Ah, yes. Fits of passion tend to make one just _scream_ out inner thoughts, hmm?”

He shuddered, trying to think of something else. “What is it about Mew that you must torment her so much? Why her? Why me? What makes us so important?”

She barked out a short, harsh laugh. “You just are not getting it. Let me sound it out for you.” She floated closer to the point their noses squashed, her tiny hands clutching his neck. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper, her enunciation drawling out, “You control the mother, you command the children. Command the children, and you rule the future.”

His eyes widened, breath catching as cold sweat began to develop. She snickered again, then pulled back. “It never fails. Even the strong-willed will fall. And when we compare yours and Mew's stats, you two will have strong, intelligent, beautiful children, no doubt with equally valiant spirits. It will take a lot of my good minions to convince them to fall away.” Her oculars flashed menacingly. “Luckily, I am in command of this body, and thus everything about it is in my control. I'll choose my best followers to possess the bodies, or if we do not reach it in time, we can brainwash it easily. We demons have such a way with words.”

Mewtwo was nearly speechless, only managing to croak out one word: “Monster!”

Mew let out a wicked laugh. “Go ahead and call me what you want, I heard it all. Still will not change my mind. Although I would be cautious about what you say to me; I may just damage this body beyond repair if I have to.”

A gasp died in his throat, a painful knot twisting in his stomach. “Y-You... you cannot be serious! But... I thought you were using her for...” He couldn't bring himself to say it.

Her expression darkened as she bared her teeth in an unpleasant way. “I am, but only if I have no choice. If I were to leave this body for any reason, I will wreck her to the point she will be lucky to breathe. Mostly, though, I will sterilize her, but if measures call for it, I can mutilate an organ or two. It will not kill her, per se, but it will disable her. However...”

Mew tilted her chin in, flashing a mad grin as she licked her lips. She extended her claws and slitted three deep cuts down her cheekbone to the jaw, then held up the damaged arm. Smirking, she dug into the wound and widened it. Mewtwo could swear his heart stopped.

“I _do_ have this fascination with blood and the heart. I will bleed her dry if I must, maybe even ingest every last drop.” To prove her point, she swiped her paw along the bleeding gashes and licked it. “Or I can stop and restart the heart at will, just for the heck of it. Unless you want to hold it until it stops beating? I can tear it out from her ribcage and give it to you. It would be a rather symbolic gesture, would it not?” She returned to sucking the blood off her hand.

He finally shook his head vigorously, and tore his sight away from her bloody cheek, letting his tears overflow. “No, no more!” he pleaded in a near holler. “Enough, please, I do not want to hear of it anymore! Please, stop hurting her! It is me you want, not her!”

She glanced over, a sly smile spreading on her lips as she watched the teardrops drip to the stone floor. “Really? Will you do anything to get me to leave her alone?” she challenged.

“Anything!” he sobbed out. “Just please, leave her out of it while she is still alive and pure!”

Quirking a brow, she snapped her fingers, and he was released. He wobbly crawled forward a few inches before he curled before her in anguish. She remained in place, staring down at a trembling, broken Mewtwo as he quietly cried and tried to stifle his whimpers. She gave a small “hmph”, crossing her arms.

“I find it hard to believe the world's strongest Pokémon would easily give himself up for the love of his life,” she noted. “You must have really developed a soul all these years to bring yourself to this level. For someone who claims to be a fake, your emotions are real, if strangely close to a human level.” Legion paused while she ran her hand down her cheek again, waiting for the clone to speak his mind. When he didn't, the demon rose the bloody paw to eye-level, and resumed, “Before I forced Mew to attempt suicide, you were the last on her mind. And she admitted to knowing you love her, refusing to believe it may have been a ploy against her emotions to hurt her. She loves you as well, but I take it you already knew that.”

Mew floated down to his level, taking his head into her paws and tilting it back. The tears looked to be endless, smoothing out his usual cold countenance to the exact opposite of a submissive wreck. She let the salt water wash past her hands, leaving smears of watery blood on his left side. “She was difficult to break. I had her in my sight for months, haunting her dreams. She ignored me at first, and when I refused to leave, she had no choice but to acknowledge my existence. It was then she slowly went mad, and I was able to enter her mind, to be her second 'conscious' in a way. She lost sleep because of me, thus making herself more vulnerable to my influences. She tried to fight back, and she did a hell of a job. But in the end, I won.”

She flashed her bloody gash, which Mewtwo for a split second glanced at. “I forced her to spill her blood as her final sin, and what a sin it was. Murder lands you in Spirit Prison, and suicide is no exception. She continues to reflect on it, hating herself for it, and thus she stays. She will pay for it as she painfully dies a spiritual death. If all goes well, you will cease to be life-mates when the bond breaks. You may see her again in the afterlife, but you will never remember your relationship with her. It will have been just a dream, not reality.”

Realization slowly found its way into clone's eyes, and he moved to push himself away until she caught his hand. “You _promised_ , Mewtwo,” the feline purred, smirking at his trembling form. “You promised you would do anything if it means saving your precious mate. As improbable as it is now, your word is still bound. As is mine.” Mew lightly trailed her fingers across his palm and wrist, leaning down to plant a kiss to it without breaking eye-contact. “You are mine. You will do as I say.” She bent forward and sensually locked lips. “Think of me not as a demon, but as your lover. This body changes nothing of what happens between you and her. Anything you do with me, you do with her. And who knows... I may make her look better in bed.”

He took in a short breath to speak, only for her to silence him. “Obedient servants have no complaints. If I order you to raise up a new island, or rip apart one of your friends, you will do it. When I ask for their heads, you will say 'medium or well-done'. I could even tell you to commit _hari-kari_ , and you will obey without question. Am I understood?” He nodded, though it brought a small scowl to her face. “I think you mean, 'yes, Mew.'”

Mewtwo stared in fear for a moment before he nodded once more. “Yes... Mew.”

She smiled, running her knuckles against his cheek. “That is much better. Now... love me.”

As hesitant as he was, the psycat recited a “Yes, Mew” just when they pressed lips.

Mew led the kiss, deepening it with every breath. They touched tongues, making it more overt and salty the longer it lasted. Reluctantly and shakily, her clone ran his hands along her curves, kneading with his fingers, and she reached behind his neck to stroke his cord. She pressed herself into him, lowering her tail down his belly. He let out a groan, bestowing a bite onto her lips to silence himself. She pinched the sensitive organ in warning, then forced him to his feet. Backing up without parting, she pulled him along until she was nearly bent in half running into an obstacle. She gasped, disguising it as a moan when she noticed he had landed on her in the process. Smirking, she took a hand and pressed it against her lower abdomen, close to her thigh.

Mewtwo briefly froze in place, feeling his temperature rise when he recognized her intentions. He tried breaking the kiss, to get himself away from her, but Mew had a tight grip on him. Nipping in frustration, she forced his paw to slip underneath, pushing his fingertips onto her womanhood. At the same time, the tip of her tail rubbed upon a sensitive area, making him squirm and fluster. Afraid of what was coming next, he momentarily pushed himself off, knowing he crossed lines.

She swiftly lunged at him, fire in her eyes. “You try my patience! Even if it means I have to tie you down or knock you unconscious, you _are_ going to uphold the end of your agreement, Mewtwo! How many times am I going to tell you before you get it?! There is nothing wrong with you enjoying yourself, now love me, dammit!”

With shortness of breath, he could only shake his head, trying to pry her off. He didn't struggle long, for the colored lights caught his eye. Now that he was closer, the lights were indeed curiously illuminated on the raised pedestal, constructed in a triangular shape with circular markings engraved on the surface. The lights rested at the three points, each containing symbols inside. One was obviously another triangle while the other two looked more like floral patterns. They all pointed directly to the center, though nothing was visible.

Mew didn't bother to glance over her shoulder, scowling at his confused expression as she rolled her eyes. “Yes, the lights are pretty. Stop looking at them and let us return to what we were doing.”

“What is this place?” he muttered, looking around the room. “More ruins, is it not?”

She huffed, pulling away. “Figures you would not recognize it. Mew might, as could some of the other Legendaries, at least through legend. This is the main chamber of the Sinjoh Ruins where it holds the Mystri Stage. It is said that when Arceus steps onto the platform, he creates an egg. But mortals are fickle-minded, they cannot comprehend the powers of creation. They do not realize this can be used to control the world, if one knows how to use it.”

Mewtwo tore his eyes away in surprise. “You are saying this is a weapon?” he gasped.

“In a way, yes. It can create life, but it can take it away.” Mew floated to the middle of the base. “If a normal mortal attempts to operate this, he or she will right-away faint. Stronger mortals can feel their life-force drain, and may pass out as well. Unfortunately, they will be too consumed by the madness to walk away.” She grinned, spreading out her arms. “Us immortals, on the other hand, are more than capable of keeping it in control. Thanks to the quick thinking of some of the Legendaries, the world has managed to quietly stay on path of prosperity. Yes, Mewtwo, the world has been teetering on edge ever since its birth. But do not go thinking the world has ended because this has been neglected. This is used in emergencies only. It activates itself when it feels the world needs a little power-boost, and sends a signal, alarming a Legendary willing to listen to come work the controls.”

He felt his knees quake, and he leaned against the stage for support. “Then... y-you are saying—”

She cruelly laughed. “I did not bring you here for that, Mewtwo. You are not in the position or power to use it, you never were. You may be a Legendary, but you were never immortal. Had you been foolish enough to attempt this, you would have shriveled up alive. It is a horrible way for the body to die. Now Mew, if she was still immortal for one thing, would have easily brought the world back to order without breaking a sweat. There would really be no need for you all to waste away waiting for trees to bear fruit.”

Mewtwo stared at the glowing circles, slowly shaking his head in skepticism. “This... this is impossible. This structure cannot possibly be tapped into the world's essence... I-I thought the Tree was.”

“It was. But what made you think the Tree existed in the first place?” His eyes widened in sheer awe, turning to the demon. “It is not known who created the Tree, though it is very likely Arceus' doing. But humans have come here in the past and tried to play God themselves. It is believed one of the Golems was brought here and they used it to form the Tree to their liking. They were rather stupid back then, I am sure they followed orders without questioning it. My guess is they brought in Regirock, it would explain why the Tree was a _rock_ formation.” She snorted at her joke. “From what I could gather, it was originally going to be for the earth's benefit. When it was not what they had expected, they went ahead to do it themselves. Somehow, though, the creation had of yet to finish, and something went terribly wrong. Instead of feeding the earth, the Tree now fed itself, shortening the life-span of everyone on the planet.

“Because humans messed with it, it was imperfect. It could no longer stabilize, nor take care of itself, so a guardian was chosen. However, mortals were being used. It needed someone who would live long enough, and was strong enough to handle its berserks. Killing the Tree was not an option at the time, so in a desperate attempt, Arceus went to Mew and offered her the gift of immortality if she would guard the Tree, and the world to an extent. What he had failed to mention was the everlasting bond the two would share. She learned that the hard way.”

The clone hung his head, not wanting to believe Legion, but the burning, aching feeling in his heart said otherwise. As mind-blowing as it was, it brought into light the full understandings of Mew's harsh life. A seemingly selfless desire to serve the world was done out of selfishness of wanting a better life. She slowly paid for it over the years, watching a thousand years of change go by while she remained the same. She had wanted to get away from it all, yet her attempts only made things worse.

He wondered if she ever regretted her decision to keep the world at bay. She had to give up her personal freedoms to form a symbiotic relationship with it. It could be why she returned after her rampage, it was truly all she had left, her reason to continue living. Those months she had spent (forcibly) away from the Tree may not have done much, though the longer he thought about it, perhaps it was harmful? She only did not notice because of the stress in the laboratory, it possibly not once ever crossed her mind. What if her pregnancy had actually failed for that reason?

Though the longer he thought on it, he could not come up with an explanation for _how_ it would have made sense at the time, for if she was protected from it, then so could have the child. He doubted either of the scientists had known about the Tree and her immortality. The poisoned bloodstream _was_ more likely to have been the cause, as she was not truly immune to it, she just could not get sick from it.

There was a blast from above, startling Mewtwo out of his thoughts. He whipped his head up, and quickly jumped back, chunks of the ceiling crashing around and onto the platform, covering them in dust. Mew looked over at him in annoyance, unfazed by the destruction.

“We stalled long enough. Let us begin the creation of a better world!”


	13. Summonings

“ _Fallen angels at my feet_

_Whispered voices at my ear_

_Death before my eyes_

_Lying next to me I fear”_

_\-- “Whisper”, Evanescence, “Fallen”_

*~*~*

“'A better world'?” Mewtwo echoed out, unsure if he had heard it right.

Mew's eyes flared up in some form of excitement as she smirked. “Your definition of 'a better world' may be different from mine, but yes. I want a world that will not reject me and my people. Perhaps that was your intention at one point?”

“Not anymore!” he hurriedly lashed out, though he backed down a little when she glared. “I learned from my mistakes, and have grown to love this world even if it has never loved me. I will _never_ bring myself to return to that state of confusion again. Legion, your intentions may be entirely different, but please leave this earth alone. It has gone through enough trials in its lifetime—”

“DO NOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” Using her telekinesis, she lifted Mewtwo up and threw him across the room to collide against the wall, holding him in place. He felt he was being strangled. “You know _nothing,_ mortal! Of all the worlds ever created in the universe, very few are ever this uninhabitable! We were _made_ to damn souls, and if we have to destroy an entire civilization for it to happen, so be it! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to start a world populated only by demons, and you are going to help me whether you like it or not!” Releasing her invisible hold, she turned her back on him when he collapsed to the floor, gazing at the small skylight she had made above her. “It is nearing noon,” she muttered.

Mewtwo looked up in time to see her wave a hand off to the side. Almost immediately, there was a glint at the end of the chamber, streaking into her out-stretched paw where she gave it a squeeze. He watched as the three lights went still.

“At high noon, the rays will directly hit the center, starting up the Mystri Stage,” she slowly explained, causing his insides to freeze up. “Strictly through willpower, I will guide its powers to create the Tree's heart, using the aura inside this jewel.” She flashed it at an angle that nearly blinded the clone. He saw it was of a pale blue when he squinted. “The rest takes care of itself from there.”

Forcing himself to take a sharp breath, Mewtwo cried out, “Mew's body is mortal now! You attempt to do this, you will destroy her body!”

She cackled, glancing over her shoulder. “You forget that _I_ am in control of the body. It cannot die until I command it to. When I am done here, it will be unharmed, just the way you like it.” When she licked her upper lip, he turned away, hands clenching tightly enough they shook. Another quiet laugh escaped her.

There then came a sudden wave of light raining down into the chamber. The moment it touched the middle of the dais, a white circle illuminated into view. Following it were three smaller circles, and the light spread out into a triangle shape. Before their eyes, more triangular and spherical contours formed, snaking around until the nearly entire surface was engulfed in a blinding glow. The three colorful circles remained the same. Grinning, Mew laid the stone onto the very center, backing a short ways. Raising her hands above it, she began to concentrate.

Struggling to stand, the clone pleaded out once more, “Please, Legion, think about what you are doing! If the Mystri Stage is as powerful as you say it is, you will still hurt Mew!”

Legion ignored him, and Mew's body began to tremble. Developing around her hands were visible signs of energy, much like a dark shadow. The more it grew, the shakier she became. Mewtwo watched in silent awe at the amount being given off, shivering from the sensation of its presence. She dropped to her knees with a grunt, face intensely contorting like she was trying hard to push back a shout. The colored circles steadily faded into white, stretching beams of light into the middle. When it reached the stone, it glowed brightly, then started to sprout. Though noticeably in pain, Mew madly grinned as she watched the transformation, the pupils showing signs of dilation. Reaching forward, she grabbed onto the pillar.

It may have taken a few moments, but the scream was a horrible mixture of pain and enjoyment. Mewtwo's stomach churned when he caught the scent of burning flesh. Once the dark aura swirled around the white structure as though to swallow it, she gritted her teeth and tugged an arm up, stretching a spike with her. At other angles, she repeated the same process until it was covered in sharp spires. Then Mew ran her hands along the edges, slicing her palms, but also smoothing the contours out by slightly curving and widening them. Wherever drops of blood landed, it broke through the energy veil, revealing the crimson, crystalline surface beneath. When she finished, she immediately drew her shredded hands away, and the haze faded, leaving behind the fully-formed crystal structured like that of a scarlet water lily.

She gleamed down at its radiancy, a faint smile on her lips. “My best work so far,” she murmured in a rasping tone. “But it is still rather plain, is it not, Mewtwo? There is not enough red in it.”

He was hastily wrenched forward by another invisible force, slamming directly into the platform's edge and flipping onto the stage close to Mew. While he lay there gasping for breath, she leaned down and slashed his palm wide open, then pressed it to the crystal, smearing it along a spire. He let out a startled cry at the stinging heat, struggling to pull away. She kept a tight grip on him, releasing him only after the color deepened. He horrifically eyed at his burnt hand, taking deep breaths and blinking rapidly to avoid tearing up as he glanced back up at Mew.

“There! The heart is complete!” she exclaimed like she was worshipping it. An insane smile quirked at the corners when she laughed. “Oh, what a beautiful start to a beautiful world! Look at it, Mewtwo, is that not the most perfect creation you have ever seen? Nothing will ever match it, except for our children! In fact... I want my first love-making here. My first conception—my first birth—right here, in the Heart of the Tree. Right here... under the safety of the spires, under the glow of red.”

His face was tightly gripped at when she forced him to look at her. He couldn't help staring into her demonic eyes as her toothy grin widened even more. “Do you agree, Mewtwo? Is this not the perfect place for us? It is rather symbolic, is it not? Our flesh did not just become one, so did our blood. And when we create, we create with our flesh _and_ blood. I would say it suits us _perfectly._ ”

And then she laughed some more, more maniacal with every second. The clone only gawked at her, unable to bring himself to say a word or to stand to his feet. He had told himself before this was a fake passing itself off as Mew. Now, the longer he watched and listened to her laugh like mad, he was fully convinced she was gone. Nothing was left of her, not even the body. This body was like that of a ghostly skeleton that still managed to bleed. The irises, at least the parts touching the pupils, were colored gray, and not because they hadn't gone outside in who-knows how long.

As she slowly began to show composure, she rocked in place, covering her face in her blistered, peeling hands. With each breath she took to calm down, they clenched. When she grew quiet, she slid them down her face, leaving behind claw marks. She glared down at Mewtwo, ignoring the six bloody streams running down her cheeks.

“What is the matter, Mewtwo?” she muttered in a dangerously tranquil, almost innocent tone. “Is something wrong? Do you not like my idea? Did the talk of children turn you off? I did not say we would do it immediately after the Tree is finished. It was only a suggestion. Unless...” and she tilted her head, “...do you want our special occasions elsewhere? Were you thinking something similar to a human's honeymoon?” A small, sly smile then twitched on her lips when she noticed he wasn't looking directly into her eyes. “Oh. You have something special planned after all?”

After taking in the disfigured body of his beloved, he locked visions with her. She blinked in some form of surprise. “You are not Mew. You never were, Legion,” he whispered bitterly, almost breathlessly. “Stop pretending to be her. Look what you have done to her. You had your way with her for too long. You may have claimed over and over that you decide the death of her body, but you are bleeding her dry, and mutilating it to bring back a godforsaken crystal. And still you expect it to carry a child. How do you know you have not killed her reproductive organs, let alone the ability for her body to _grow_ with the child?”

Her face darkened up, and she slapped him, cutting his cheek open. “Bastard! You are just _begging_ to die!”

He slowly shook his head, refusing to break eye-contact. “No... I am asking you to let her go. So that way if she does die, she will die in my arms. I will then take the punishment the others or God will give to me. Only then will she forgive me fully... and I will have paid for my sins.”

Legion cruelly laughed. “What a fool you are to think that. But it is too late to request it. Now that you gave the Heart your blood, you and Mew are forever servants of the Tree. Once your friends are dead, it shall be you, this body, and the inhabitants of this earth for eternity, replenishing the Tree.”

“The Tree needs aura to survive,” he corrected. “It cannot survive on just the two of us and the other Legendaries forever.”

“You are not listening. I said once they are _dead,_ not the other way around.” She smirked wickedly. “Though actually, you might be on to something.” Then she reached over and touched a spire, and it illuminated brightly. “I suggest you start praying for them. They will be needing it.”

Out of the blue, an earthquake swept in, and the ruins began to crumble around them. Mewtwo immediately levitated, albeit weakly, watching the glassy film spread out across the stage. As the walls and pillars fell apart, they were replaced with crystalline structures, and reshaped the inside of the chamber. Shards protruded out from corners in groups or as individuals, all in the same crimson hue. He could have sworn there was an elevation beneath them, but all he noticed was how the ceiling suddenly transformed into those of gaping jaws above them, and that the skylight had been stretched. Both it and the lily powered up from the sunlight, and slowly orbs of light were exchanged between them in a double helix. This new source of energy traveled throughout the room, enveloping it into a bloody glow, and twisting some spires into coils or splitting them at the ends.

He was aware of the continued shockwaves, but by then he had grown amazed at how fast the chamber transfigured itself. He had been expecting large volumes of heat to be expelled, and instead the room began to cool down. Heart pounding against his ribcage, the clone finally choked out, “What is the meaning of this? What just happened?”

Mew barked out a laugh. “This is the Heart's chamber, it would only make sense it would be the first to form.” She grinned over at him. “And as long as it is alive, the Tree will continue to grow to its full height. There is enough aura for it to do just that and to spread its roots across the world. But I will not worry a bit. Any moment now, my followers shall start the resurrection, and thus be the source of its energy. Until we get some fresh bodies made for it.”

Mewtwo swiftly shook his head, backing away. He stumbled off the stage in the process, only to scoot himself back in attempt to separate space between him and Legion. The maniacal smile split her dark face as she inched for him, irises flashing evilly. The closer she got, the more he was consciously aware of his trembling and developing cold perspiration. He was cornered up against the wall, squishing himself into it in desperate hopes it would suck him inside and away from the monster. When she was directly above him, his breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened in fear.

She gave a deadly purr, leaning forward and tilting his chin up. “But... until then, I have a special _punishment_ for you.”

*~*~*

“Celebi, you're still not in the right condition to move around!”

“I know...” and he coughed.

Mesprit pushed him back against the log. “I'm happy you want to help look for Mew and Mewtwo, but you need your rest. Not that I doubt your quick healing, but you've had a bad concussion. If you pass out—”

“I _know,_ Mesprit,” he repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time that day. “I just... want to contribute.”

“Then contribute by getting better,” Ho-oh told him, a quiet chuckle at the tip of his tongue. “We're glad about your recovery, but it's best if you stay here.”

“ _Yeah, someone needs to keep Mesprit company._ ” Deoxys gave him a thumbs-up from behind the phoenix, who turned to give him a look.

Raising a brow, Celebi leaned back, trying to keep himself erect. “Well... can I just take a bathroom break then?”

They excused him with a warning not to go far, and they joined the group having a quick lunch. Some were scarfing it down, others were barely touching their share. Not everyone was with them, for some had said they were traveling far off in the continent or in another region; the volunteers consisted of Uxie and Azelf, Lugia, and Kyogre. More were expected to join them later. Before they had left, they had gone ahead for a morning prayer (much to the disliking of a few Legendaries) for protection and guidance.

Ho-oh had been persistent they have faith since last night's spiritual experience. He knew their lost friends were still alive, though for how long he refused to dwell on. He may be selfish on making sure they were back safe, as Mew was still believed to be the hope of their future, but he worried about each and every one of his brethren. Ever since Mewtwo spilled his heart out to him, he had that impression his counterpart was important to him, that they were more than just friends. And he came to the conclusion repopulating did not just rely on Mew.

If he didn't count Cresselia, there were six more females needed to be paired up. However, he was sure everyone could have a chance to partake in their duty to start a family. He was more worried about Mew and Mewtwo “sharing” each other, if the belief the Mew species had life-mates were true. While she never told him, he heard from other sources it was what they did. He never wanted to bring it up, in the hopes it was only a theory by scientists.

It seemed, though, they weren't even close to _what_ “life-mate” meant.

As he had never had one in his lifetime, Ho-oh gleaned it from Darkrai's and Cresselia's relationship, of what he knew, anyway. They were as close as Pokémon could get, but then again, they weren't normal Pokémon. They had stayed by each other's side for as long as they have through thick and thin. Adam's death may have nearly destroyed it, but he had noticed they still had something more than friendship between them. Possibly, it was the same between Mewtwo and Mew. What her intentions were for stealing him away was anyone's guess.

“...Ho-oh, sir?”

Blinking rapidly, he turned to Suicune, whose brow was raised quizzically. “Oh, sorry. What is it you need?”

“...you haven't eaten anything,” she slowly said. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I am. I've just been thinking about...” Ho-oh trailed off, staring down at untouched pile of berries. It didn't help that a Wiki and Pecha berry happened to be side-by-side.

The North Wind glanced down. “I'm worried too, sir. But it shouldn't be an excuse to not eat.”

He smiled and scooped them up, handing them over to Suicune. “Then you take them.”

She gawked. “But... Ho-oh! You need your strength!”

“So do you. You've been searching long and hard for them, and every night you return exhausted. If you insist on staying here for the day to rest, I'll eat them. But either way you choose, I will continue searching.” He craned his head forward. “Is that clear?”

They stared at each other for a moment until she hesitantly bowed in reverence. He laid the berries before her, and then stood up, looking at the other Legendaries. All of them had been watching in frozen awe at his decision. Shaymin brought it upon herself to step forward.

“Ho-oh, what was that for?” she breathed out. “U-Unless you're fasting, there should be no reason for you to—”

“I'm not fasting,” he corrected her with a smile. “I'm just going back to searching. You all finish your lunches. I shall return by midnight, unless I'm too far away.”

“You going anywhere in particular?” Palkia wondered, popping a berry into his mouth.

“Orre. Anyone's free to join me if they wish.” (Entei's eye twitched, which earned him a few looks.) “For those who don't, I only ask of you to keep me in your thoughts... and prayers.”

When no one offered to follow, he gave a solemn nod, and took off. Everyone gazed off after him until he was gone, then returned to what they were doing. Celebi made his way back to the group, blinking up at the sky. “Where did Ho-oh go off to?”

“Gone to Orre for the day,” Jirachi said, frowning at Entei's irregular spasms.

“Entei, what's with you?” Raikou muttered to him, cocking a brow. “You look like you're seeing a ghost.”

He grimaced. “You don't remember...” He glanced warily at their sister before dropping his voice, “...the dead body Lugia and I saw?”

A memory triggered itself, and he snickered. “Oh yeah, that was priceless. Is that the reason you don't want to go back?”

“Duh! There's still dead people over there! You know we've only buried those up to Ecruteak’s outskirts and out by New Bark Town. Well, in Johto, anyway. I know others went around the world, but I stayed near here.”

Raikou gave a quiet “pfft”. “You're such a wimp. _I_ went to Lake of Rage.”

“Is that where you got the 'bla' or whatever it was called?”

“At Mahogany Town, yeah. And I think you mean 'bra'.”

The two snorted at the same time, covering their mouths.

“What are you idiots giggling over this time?” Rayquaza called over, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “Whatever it is, let me join in your little sausage fest.”

The beasts looked around, frowning. “Uh... we don't have sausages,” the volcanic beast clarified.

He slapped his forehead. “You're like how old again?”

“Knock it off, Ray,” Latios sighed, folding his arms. “Just let them talk, it's harmless.”

“Unless they were talking about me.”

Raikou smirked at his brother before speaking up. “Yeah, we were talking about your skinny green ass. I mean, _wow_.” And they laughed.

“ _Hey, no one talks about Rayquaza's ass except_ _ **me,**_ ” Deoxys butted in with a scowl. “ _Besides, you forgot to mention that it looks like it can just pop right off. How much you wanna bet it wriggles on its own?_ ”

“Screw you, Dorkxys!”

The alien obscenely raised a finger. “ _Right back at you._ ” The two brothers roared.

Suicune reached over to smack one of them, catching the thunder beast by the paw. “Want me to separate you two? God, why do you do this?”

They glanced at each other before shrugging. “We don't know,” they said in monotone unison.

She gave a warning snarl, then paused, jerking her head to the trees. Quizzically, the group copied, some only taking a glance and scoffing to themselves. Latias frowned, clinging to her brother as a precaution. “What's everyone looking at?”

“I think it's more of a 'looking _for_ ',” he amended softly, placing a hand on her head. She shuddered.

“No, don't you hear that?” Suicune inquired of them, scowling. “Someone needs to have heard that...”

They all strained their ears to listen, a few holding their breaths. Heatran buried his feet into the ground for a brief moment. “I'm feeling seismic waves,” he announced. “They may be small, but they're... growing?”

“What do you mean by that?” Zapdos asked, even though he and his sisters spread out their wings. “And why did you sound so uncertain?”

As though on cue, the ground began sliding beneath their feet. Mesprit immediately lifted Celebi and herself into the air, prompting others to do the same. The moment the last foot was off the dirt, however, the quakes ended. They stared at it in confusion, but none of them dared to land back down until they were sure there were no shock waves.

Deoxys set down all the bodies he carried and sat cross-legged on a cracked boulder. “ _Heh, that wasn't so bad,_ ” he said smugly, throwing his arms behind his head.

Right next to him, a shard of crystal broke through, startling him into tumbling to the ground and crawling away, spouting out gibberish.

As humorous as it was to see the alien become frightened, they were just as surprised. It quickly turned to wonder as more spires pierced through the ground and even from roots of trees. Although beautiful, the crimson shine they gave off was menacing.

Latias whimpered and squeezed herself into her brother's hold. “What's going on?” she squeaked out, feeling tears pricking at her eyes.

Jirachi, after taking a good look at a nearby crystal, lowered himself down to kneel at it. His jaw then dropped. “No way... Guys, these are crystals from the Tree of Beginning!”

“Naw, really? I _never_ would have guessed!” Groudon dryly snarled. “I'm so glad you're here, I'd been lost without you.”

The Wish Maker glowered at him. “You know, I _can_ tell the difference between sarcasm and seriousness.”

“That didn't even make sense.”

Celebi slowly shook his head. “Impossible... Didn't Mew say it was destroyed several months ago?”

Jirachi swiftly nodded. “Yes, I saw it fall.”

Mesprit, after straightening up the pixie, added her thoughts. “So, if it's completely destroyed, then why are its crystals showing up? And why way out here?”

Just as he was about to answer, the glowing of the spires caught his and everyone's attention. The lights seeped down into the earth as quick as they came, and there was a quiet period of inactivity. They all refused to move, afraid to set things off.

Grinning to himself, Raikou attempted to lighten the mood. “So... err...” His eyes fell on a small pile of berries. “Anyone going to claim that?”

From behind him and Entei, a pair of haggard, peeling arms broke their way out of the dirt. Shaymin screamed at the sight, and the brothers swerved around, momentarily regretting it. The exposed bones crackled as the limbs bent down to claw at the ground. They watched as muscle began to grow in, strengthening the arms, and the skin stretched itself to tightened alongside the bones as pigment returned. It stopped digging to wiggle the fingers, then pushed down and strained to lift the rest of the body above the surface.

It succeeded.

The Legendary Beasts screamed out in horror and ran to hide behind their sister, who was too frightened to look away. Snapping its neck back into position and smoothing its matted hair out, it turned its head in their direction, the regeneration of tissues and skin swiftly spreading throughout the torso and face. It wasn't hard to tell it was a human man (even with the chest molding out) from the skeleton structure of the shoulder blades and jawbone. Eyelids, ears, and a nose melded around the sockets as bushy eyebrows sprouted out from the clean flesh. The teeth whitened as lips pulled themselves over the bone to hide them from view, and the chin was sculpted into a cleft. When the eyelids opened, the white globes were just receiving the lenses of the corneas. The moment the man blinked, the eyes were normal, except for the slitted pupils.

The regeneration had been quick, but for the Legendaries who hadn't once blinked the moment the previously-decomposing body popped out, it was painful to watch it all happen step-by-step. Stomachs churned only for the growing ill to make themselves unable to vomit. It was when the human grinned a perfect smile did time seem to flow again, and they remembered why they were so frightened. All around them, bodies dug themselves out of their graves, humans and Pokémon alike, as the restoration of their broken bones and dead skin took place. Most of them were finished when they pulled their full, perfectly-healthy (and naked, though some were partially clothed) forms out of the holes, looking around their surroundings and even staring at the quaking Pokémon.

Entei then broke their silent demeanor by hollering out a high-pitched shriek. “ZOMBIES! OH, MY GOD, THEY WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG!”

Raikou, after getting some awkward, breathy screams out of the way, helped back him up. “And you told us they were fake, sis! I hope you're looking well and kicking yourself for it!”

Latias wailed uncontrollably, burying her face into her sibling. “I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die!”

Celebi, with Mesprit squeezing him in fright, swallowed down bile to glance at the crystals. “I-I don't believe it,” he gulped. “They brought the dead to life... and rejuvenated their bodies.”

“All in favor of running, say 'aye'!” Zapdos gave a suggestion, tugging onto his sisters' wings.

Just as most of the Legendaries gave their votes, the first human male spoke up, smiling rather smugly. “Ah, the legends of old!” he exclaimed, clasping his hands. “What are the odds we would end up here with them?”

Suicune passed out from shock.

The Volcano Pokémon gave another ear-splitting outcry. “You zombies killed my sister!” he accused, trying to glare despite his wide-eyed stare of horror.

The man only laughed, and the congregation of newly-living corpses joined in. “Oh, if only we were allowed to.” He wiped at a fake tear. “Unfortunately, we were only ordered to raise up these bodies for ourselves, and to take you all to Legion.”

“Who the hell is Legion?” Groudon grunted, shaking off his surprise.

Raising a brow, he glanced up at the gargantuan. “I take it he has of yet to show himself? You must not be that important to him, then.” He raised a brow. “Though why he would want you at the Tree escapes me.”

The Legendaries quietly gasped. “What are you talking about?” Shaymin whimpered, shaking her head. “Are you saying it needs to be fed?”

A Ledyba perched itself on the human's shoulder, smirking. “Maybe it does,” it drawled out. “We were just ordered to take you and your friends there.”

“Ah, now I remember why!” the man proclaimed, snapping his fingers. He titled his head in their direction. “He mentioned something about two friends _dying_ to meet you. No, really. The pun is not a pun, they really _are_ dying. Or was it just the one? I could have sworn he was draining both of their life-sources away...”

“ _Wow,_ exactly _what_ possessed Legion to make you a captain?” the Pokémon scoffed, rolling its eyes. One of them ended up popping out of its socket, causing Latias to scream and faint. “Damn eye. I thought these bodies were perfect now.” It twisted it back in place.

“They are, you are just an idiot.” He shrugged it off, and pointed at the group. “Obey our command, or you shall be apprehended.”

“Yeah, and we will drag you to Hell!” a younger-looking man, one of the few wearing tattered clothing, shouted out from near the back as he pumped a fist into the air.

“Doesn't he mean 'or we'll drag you to Hell'?” Palkia muttered. Dialga bumped his shoulder in warning.

After giving the person a backward glance, the man, who they were presuming was the leader, shrugged in slight agreement. “Kid speaks the truth, even though he is a little delusional.”

“Aw, come on, Jediah, why do you have to be that way?” he whined, throwing his hands up. “I mean well!”

A nearby woman smacked him. “Want to lose your body privileges?” she snarled.

Giratina suddenly chortled, fanning his wings. Everyone stared at him, his fellow Legendaries flinching at his tone. “You've got to be kidding us, really...” He took a breath. “This... this has to be some stupid dream we're all having. I mean, what are the _odds_ , really? Who here is stupid enough to believe that a small army of people, humans and Pokémon respectfully, can rise from the dead? You keep your mouth shut, Latios,” he added to the side. “Meanwhile, they're here to take us to this 'Legion' proclaiming they're temporarily using bodies for the Tree—that is _gone_ from the face of this planet—and threatening us damnation if we don't listen.” He laughed again.

“Giratina, shut up,” Darkrai hissed through his teeth, nervously glancing between him and a nearby group.

The dragon continued to snort in amusement. “I know demons, I've personally seen them. And these aren't demons, you should know that, Darkrai. Just because they can posses bodies and raise them from the dead doesn't automatically make them a demon. A bad spirit, maybe, but not a demon.” He shrugged. “They're the least of our problems. We can just destroy the bodies, it's not like they're immortal or anything.”

Jediah glanced at the perched Ledyba and his peers with a slight smirk, then looked back at the Legendaries. “Oh you are correct, Giratina, we _are_ the least of your problems.” The smile grew more menacing, and he scooped up a handful of dirt. “We are only servants to Lord Legion. If you need someone to fear, it should be him. Do not mind us. Not that you will in your sleep, anyway.” He threw it into Raikou's eyes, as he was the closest.

The beast screamed and attempted to swipe it out before a Bellsprout tossed particles over him. He fell unconscious next to Suicune a few moments later.

“Take them down!” the man commanded. “Those inhabiting the Pokémon will take down the larger entities!” The army advanced forward.

Shaymin quickly got over her shock. She cried out a “Run!”, and ignoring Zapdos' boasting of “I told you so!”, they all fled as fast as they could.

They were jumped in a blink of an eye, and though they all fought back, the smaller Legendaries were quickly subdued by the humans, Celebi being one of the first to succumb to unconsciousness, followed by Mesprit and Jirachi, but not without a fight. Those who could fly took off, only to be pursued by local flying Pokémon by the numbers. Their speeds were incredible, and they bombarded them, plucking out feathers, and pecking and clawing them. Their attacks may have slowed them down, but wearied them out. No matter how many of them they hit, they shook it off and came for a second, even third round. All was lost when the humans below shot them down with crude arrows and other weapons they had scavenged from the town.

Entei and Deoxys, the only two with the highest speed, had grabbed as many as they could and carried them off. They failed to overlook other groups outside of Cherrygrove who, on some impulse, attacked them at random and snatched their friends who hollered at them to continue running. They found it useless in the long-run, ending up being tripped and tackled. Though the alien morphed into his other forms, he over-estimated the strength of packs. His Defense Mode failed to protect him, and his jewel was cracked in the process.

Groudon, Rayquaza, the three Sinnoh Alpha legends, and Regigigas were slowed down by the barrages of possessed Pokémon, but they made an effort to fight back and try to give the others a chance to escape. No matter how many attacks they threw at them, at how much they stomped them into the ground, they kept coming back. Even if their bodies were broken, they fixed themselves right up, and gave their all. A few Grass-types that were there held them down with their roots and vines while tossing Sleep Powder and Stun Spore into the air, others went ahead to pound them with all they got.

“Damn it all, they won't die!” the land titan roared out after the umpteenth Pokémon he stepped on rose up, snapping its limbs back to normal. He went to punt it, only to accidentally kick Palkia's backside.

“What the heck was that for?!” His distraction cost him his defense, and a Heracross' horn punctured the pearl-colored jewel on a shoulder. He gave a startled gasp, and he tumbled backward into his rival, knocking them down. The surrounding Pokémon then proceeded to blind them with sand and shower them with Sleep Powder. The remaining Legendaries raged on.

Jediah only watched excitedly from the sidelines as his fellow minions brought them all down one-by-one, not bothering to hold back a victorious smirk. His eyes brightened at the spilling of blood from both sides, and he couldn't help but cackle. He caught the glint of Giratina's glare before a blow made direct contact with the dragon's head.

It made him laugh even harder.


	14. Transcend

“ _For a small moment I have forsaken thee,_

_but with great mercies will I gather thee.”_

_\-- 3 Nephi 22:7_

*~*~*

It was dark and quiet; it had been for a while. She couldn't remember if she had lost her senses or if she was isolated in empty space. As much as the silence was welcoming for a while, she was feeling herself growing mad from it. All she had to keep her company were her recurring memories. Unfortunately, many of them weren't happy memories. No matter how much she had tried to focus on the good, the bad kept pushing through, almost like they were mocking her. They became burdens as they all flooded around her, weighing her down to a quivering wreck. With each flashback she had, her wounds seemed to deepen. She was sure she was crying blood instead of tears—it was rather ambiguous, though, as she was still bleeding.

The wound on her arm wouldn't stop flowing, no matter how much pressure Mew applied on. Her paws were her only available tourniquets she had in the suffocating void, and they were useless within minutes. The agonizing throbs were steadily worsening, causing her unrest, and the deafening silence forced her to talk to herself as a distraction. She had mumbled at first, then resorted to screaming and wailing when it wasn't enough. Secretly, it was in the hopes someone would hear her. The tiny Legendary didn't know how long she was there, but she was craving the sound of another voice. It didn't matter what it was, just as long as she knew another living being was nearby.

When her voice had given out and the pain so unbearable, it became almost a part of her. If it were to make her feel better, she would hurt herself. She convinced herself she had an endless amount of blood in her, that losing a pint or two wouldn't be felt. It was the only way she knew she was still alive, the only physical being left in existence. With each self-infliction, Mew individually cursed her friends, envisioning them in her minds what their reactions would be like if they were to see her cutting herself. Even though her vocal cords were hoarse, she laughed at them, her inner bitterness becoming almost a form of hatred.

She had collapsed in exhaustion some time ago. She could still feel her veins emptying out around her, and she wished she could die. It was a frightening concept, and though her heart told her not to give up, Mew wanted it to end. Breathing was painful enough as it was, thinking tired her out, and movement was now nearly impossible. She was ready to give up the ghost. 

But _he_ wouldn't let her die.

Legion had told her himself this was her eternal torment. She didn't believe him at first, a mistake she now solely regretted. It didn't help she, in his words, “crossed the line” by appearing to Mewtwo. The demon had personally dragged her to this place where he claimed no one would find her, and that she wouldn't interfere in his plans again. So far, he was right. In between her depleting sanity, she could feel the growing effects of his possession of her body. Most of the serious injuries were of his doing, though it became harder to distinguish as time went on.

She managed out a dry sob, burying her face into the bloody pool. “Wh...why?... Why... does it hurt? I can't... I can't take this...” Her eyes closed tightly. “Someone... or God... just let me die. Let us all die... it hurts...” 

She was ready to succumb to the surrounding darkness when she became aware of a hint of light. It was nothing more than a pin-point, reminding her of what a star looked like. So small and insignificant, yet she kept an eye on it. There was no reason why she showed interest in it, but it had been a long time since she had last seen _anything_.

Mew wept again, wincing when she curled a hand. “No more... I can't do this anymore...” She ducked her head, but couldn't stand the acrid smell of her blood. Upon glancing up, her breath caught in a quiet gasp.

A lone figure, all in white, was making its way in her direction in a steady pace. It was the source of the light, it was literally emitting off of the being. The stranger, once Mew grew used to the luminosity and when the personage was more viewable, looked to be a human woman with a long-sleeved, flowing dress and silver, curly, impossibly-long hair. However, she ended up blinking, and upon a closer inspection, she turned out to be a young girl no older than six with a different appearance altogether. She still wore a dress, but it was to her knees, revealing feet clad in sandals. Her hair was of a decent length down her back, the color a shining aqua-green. The only similarities were a loving smile was on her face and the eyes the color of the noon-day sky.

Unable to look away, Mew could only remain where she was when the child paused before her. They stared each other down until she spoke, her voice echoing slightly. “You must be Mew.”

A small frown painfully manifested itself. “So what if I am?” she rasped out.

The girl was unfazed as she bent down. “That's a good question,” she mused. “I've met other Mew before, but they were all different. None of them were as beautiful as you, though.”

The feline vainly attempted to push herself away almost immediately. “I'm not beautiful... I'm just like any other Mew.” 

“Not really.” She had a grin that made her squint. “While you are all similar, each of you are different. What separates you all are your hearts. So far, you have the most love in your heart.”

“No, I don't!” she snapped, forcing herself to sit up and show her slashed arms. “Does this look like I'm full of love right now?! I can't stand it anymore! I was doing fine until _he_ showed up! And look what he made me do!”

The youngster tilted her head. “You mean Mewtwo?” 

Mew quickly shook her head. “I'm talking about that demon bastard, Legion!”

“That's a rather harsh word, isn't it?”

She realized what she had just said and hastily amended herself. “Sorry about that, I didn't mean to... Just forget I said that.”

The girl giggled. “I don't think you're telling the complete truth.”

“No, my apology is sincere.” 

“I know. I was talking about your injuries.” She gazed sadly at the crimson puddle around them. “You wouldn't be bleeding so much if your heart wasn't hurting to try to get rid of all that love.”

The feline held back a whine, dropping her eyes to her trembling arms. “This isn't love,” she murmured weakly. “Love isn't supposed to hurt like this.”

“Sometimes it does. It's in your blood.” She pointed a delicate finger at the deep wound. “If blood sends love all around your body, then a cut is a work of carelessness that wishes to destroy that love. The worse it is, the more love you lose. Cuts like these are what you would call 'hate'.” She lifted her large eyes up to cross visions. “Someone made out of love wouldn't have hurt you like this.” 

As much as she was making sense, Mew was saddened by the child's innocent reason of logic. _I'm either not explaining it right, or she's missing the point, the dear,_ she sighed to herself. She tried again. “I'm saying that Legion, a demon, made me hurt myself.”

The girl nodded. “I know.”

“But you brought up Mewtwo.” She blinked. “Speaking of, how'd you know about him?”

The young miss toothily grinned, brightening her countenance. “In the Spirit World, you know about everyone.”

Regardless of how happy she stated it, it concerned the Legendary. In her inner anguish, she had completely forgotten she was on the other side, that it was the result of her remembering everything about her life. It explained that the longer she was with this little one, the more she looked familiar.

Waving it off, however, she brought herself to reluctantly nod. “Oh... right.”

Tilting her head, the human girl reached forward to place a hand on her shoulder. It was warm and very comforting. “Why does Mewtwo make you hurt so much?” she queried. “The more you think about him, the more your love bleeds out.” Her eyes focused on the six long cuts on her cheeks. “This Legion must not want you two together.”

Mew's ears drooped as she bit her lip, breaking the gaze. “No... he wants us together, but in the way _he_ wants it,” she started off, wringing her hands. “Mewtwo and I... we're... we're life-mates. We have been for several months now. I just... didn't want to admit it. He says he didn't mean to, but since I returned the affection, we formed that bond...”

“Like a marriage?” the lass defined, beaming.

She shrugged. “Something like that... if you want to get all technical with it. But it's really more of a promise.”

“Like a marriage.” 

A scowl crossed her features. “Human marriages deal with legal contracts. Life-mates, on the other hand, are more about accountability and being a team.”

Shaking her head, the child resolved, “A marriage is a promise between a man, a woman, and God that they would be together always. If being a life-mate is similar to that of a marriage, then it's the same as a marriage.”

“You're getting it mixed up.”

“How can I? Your definition of 'life-mate' is much like my definition of 'marriage'. Some Pokémon see it differently than others, though, like you and Mewtwo, and Cresselia and Darkrai.”

Mew's heart sank at the mention of the two. “Look, kid, I know you mean well—”

“Amber.” 

“...is that your name?”

She nodded. “On Earth, anyway. I have a heavenly name, but you can call me Amber.”

Something in her mind told her she should have already known that, but she pushed it back. “Well, at least now I have a name to go with that pretty face.”

Amber laughed, a pleasant sound of tinkling bells. “Anyway, Mew, you gonna continue explaining to me about you and Mewtwo?”

“But I thought you said you know everything,” Mew reminded her suspiciously.

“I do. I just wanna hear your side of it.”

She found herself smiling. “You know, it's funny what the future holds. Mewtwo and I never got along at first, we used to fight. When we came to a truce, we went ahead and tried to at least get to know each other better, just for it to be more of a friendly rivalry. But... as the years came and went, we wouldn't leave each other alone. Well, actually that was me. I kept bothering him just about every week or something like that. He must have gotten so sick of yelling at me and running off, he went ahead and put up with me.” A quiet laugh escaped her. “Oh, I knew he wanted nothing more than to silence me for good, but he couldn't do it. We managed to become good friends, getting together whenever we could... if the Tree let me.”

Noticing the sad look in the feline's eyes, the girl took hold of a paw, ignoring the blood. “When did you fall in love with him?”

Glancing over at Amber, Mew let out a sad sigh. “It's... hard to tell. When we were just friends, he asked me a question about love, and I told him that friendships counted as love. I didn't think much about it until after I returned to the Tree. I found it strange how even though I knew about love, I couldn't explain to him what 'true love' meant.” She snorted. “Even so... it was then I realized I didn't know what it really meant to _be_ in love, if that's what he was originally talking about. Loving people I could do easily, but to have _feelings_ for someone... of passion... that was a different story. I don't know when it was I fell in love with him, but I loved him enough that... I kissed him back.”

She trailed off, and she lost herself in that fateful memory. Whether he felt like it was his duty or not, he returned her from near-death, and from herself. While she had proudly told him she could take care of herself, inside she had known how incapable she was, and even Mewtwo knew that much. He did the only method that was available to him at the time, and she spat in his face about it. Still, as much as she had wanted to hurt him, to remove herself from the situation, she stayed. She figured that was all it was going to be, and he would leave her alone after that.

Intentionally or not, the moment became intimate. And when his soul revealed itself unto her, it sparked something inside her she had not felt in a long while. It had healed her without her conscious approval. And then she found herself lost in a kiss, the first step on the long road to recovery... to a love she had desperately desired.

She had chosen Mewtwo to be her mate.

Amber jolted her back to the present when she drew her into a hold, squeezing her close. Almost immediately, she felt more at peace with herself. “What made the kiss special, Mew?” she inquired in a curious tone.

Mew thought on it some more, growing more aware of a flush rising to her cheeks. “He was healing my heart without knowing why. I'm sure had things been different... maybe then, I wouldn't have been so harsh with him. I would have been more... _consciously_ willing to make the decision of him becoming my mate when he was ready to confront me about it. Maybe... we wouldn't have been so afraid to try...” Slowly, she raised a hand to rest it on her stomach, and closed her eyes as she took a shaky breath. “He was trying to mend our already-thin bond before... _this_ happened. I just... I was nasty to him because I was afraid. I didn't know it was Legion that made him hurt me at the time, and I told him to never touch me again. But we both knew we had a special connection by then... that we couldn't keep denying it. H-Had I let him kiss me again that night, to let ourselves be more intimate with each other, we may not have been in this mess. If it was possible, I would have conceived.”

She clutched Amber's hand tightly as she fought back tears. The girl nodded in understanding. “It's what you both want, right? A baby?” 

Mew swallowed. “Well, _I_ do... even though it may never replace what I felt when I was... pregnant the first time. I'm not entirely sure about Mewtwo, but I want to show him he is capable of giving me children, that he _is_ a Pokémon. And... it'll also be the proof of our love. I want him to know that I love and support him by bearing his children, and by always being there for him. If it turns out he is unable to produce offspring after all, I will still love him. I don't want him to think that because we end up childless I will leave him for someone else. He's been alone for so long... I just want him to be happy.” 

Choking back her sobs, she rubbed at her eyes until they started to sting. Glancing down at her hand to find it still bloody, she allowed her tears to flow. Amber's smile never changed, though she gazed down with a look of compassion. The Legendary spoke again, not bothering to hide the sadness in her voice. “However... there cannot be true happiness if we have some grievous memory or sin on our shoulders. Right? I know I did things I'm not proud of. Whether on purpose or not, I _have_ killed people. I can still feel their blood on me... hear their tortured screams... Bridget's pleading...” Breath sticking in her throat, and the images flashing before her eyes, she immediately shook her head with a quiet whimper. “I'm not alone in this, though... I think. Well, Mewtwo never went into detail, but he has killed before. A-And he can be manipulative. I accidentally overheard him say he... that he is part human, and because of it, he got those characteristics. These memories must be haunting, weighing him down all these years. I don't think he can ever forgive himself for it.” 

She paused for a moment until she dropped to a murmur. “He believes he took advantage of me at Mount Quena because of that. Again, he didn't tell me directly... well, he must have been planning on it or something. But still, he feels he's not fit to be my mate. According to him... he violated me. He views himself as someone unsuitable to love or _be_ loved because of who he is. I know Mewtwo as a close friend of his... I had just never heard him say that before. I mean, yeah, he has put himself down before no matter how many times I've told him he's unique. You must have seen Mewtwo if you know about him. Everything about him is man-made, but he's beautiful. In fact... we literally had a soul-to-soul talk. And he's just so... oh, Amber, if beauty ever exceeds in itself, it would be Mewtwo. As imperfect as he is, he's gorgeous. Very...”

Upon thinking back on the memory, Mew shuddered, still feeling the lingering touch of his body and their kisses. The thoughts that had gone through her head were still clear: those of dread, anxiety, desire... and regret. She hadn't meant for them to go far. She knew he would stop himself, but _when_ he would had been the real question. All she had wanted to do was forgive him and to give him an opportunity to let him forgive himself. His emotions had been too much. While he loves her, he had gotten out of control to the point he called it lust. But she knew it wasn't true. She put all her trust in him, putting herself on the line. The moment she saw the remorseful look in his eyes, she knew she had been right all along. The temptation failed, if just barely. Still, she knew he hadn't yet forgiven himself for it.

Amber retained her silence and hold on the trembling Mew, petting her in consolation. Slowly, her eyes closed, and she drew in a breath. “Adam fell that men might be,” she let out in a breath, trailing off.

The petite feline blinked up at her, puzzled. When the girl didn't respond any further, she inquired of her, “And that is?”

The smile grew sad, and she sighed. “Oh, Mew. How could you forget that?”

“Forget what?”

She pulled Mew up to stand alongside her. “I have something to show you,” she whispered, tightly gripping her hand. “I feel you need to know about it.”

Questions came to mind, but the feline held her tongue as she was led down an unseen path. Amber was the only light source, and yet their surroundings remained a void. It even felt like they were just walking in place, not moving an inch. As frustrating as it was, she placed her trust in the child that she knew where she was going. 

_After all,_ she kept telling herself, _if she could find me, then she can find a way out._

It wasn't known how long they were traveling for. Ever since she was placed in this dark place, Mew had lost track of time. All she knew was that the more she felt the pain, the less time she had. However, it was like it all had faded away when the girl visited her. The dull aches of wounds pleading to be healed were still there, but she hadn't felt new ones open, nor felt the urge to hurt herself. In fact, the only objects of interest on her mind were this human and the well-being of her friends. Her negativity gone, a small smile grew on her face, thankful to be with Amber. 

Then an ear flicked, and she could make out faint sounds of a mournful cry—it almost sounded like a multitude. She looked around, noticing the blackness had toned down to a bluish tint, signs of light nearby. The more it lightened up, the more she realized there were people everywhere, some louder than others, even so, they were alike in some ways. None of them that she could make out were as bright as Amber, albeit still recognizable as humans and Pokémon, and they were all in a state of sadness. They all kept their distances, refusing to say a word to a neighbor or to look at them. Nevertheless, when they walked by, all heads turned in their direction and the mourning stopped.

The Legendary frowned. “Amber... where are we?”

She glanced down. “Spirit Prison. It's where sinners stay.”

Mew's expression deepened. “But if we're all sinners... then how is it some people go to a good place like heaven?”

“The majority aren't directly sent to their rightful kingdoms. That's not until the Final Judgment. But when we die, we are judged according to our works, and then are sent to either Spirit Prison, or Spirit Paradise.”

“So... this 'Paradise' is where the good people go?” 

Amber nodded. “The spotless arrive there, and then they go throughout Prison to teach the people. That way, everyone gets a second chance at life.”

After a quick glimpse at a nearby on-looker, she took deep breaths. “So you're telling me I was in Prison, then?”

“Sort of. It was more like isolation. Demons don't judge spirits, it's not in their authority. But they do try and hide away people to the farthest reaches of Prison.” The girl slowly let out a breath, and a loving smile graced her face. “They have of yet to succeed at eternal bondage, though.” 

Mew felt a gasp die in her throat, and a warning sting at her eyes caused her to rub them (thus irritating them once more). “So... Amber? Where are we going, then?”

“To the Veil.”

She blinked, wondering if her ears had failed her for a second. “Sorry, what? You mentioned a what?”

The girl laughed quietly, and she swung their arms in a rhythmic motion. “You know, the Veil. It separates the living from the dead.” 

Her mind suddenly clicked, and she nearly released her hold in surprise when she choked out, “Wait, I'm _dead?!_ But I thought Legion—!”

Slowing to a gait, Amber shook her head when she locked gazes, bending down to her eye-level. “Remember when I said that the moment we die, we are judged? Demons don't judge the dead, Mew, and they certainly don't judge the living. You were taken away by force, led to lose faith, and to hate yourself. While you _are_ in spirit form, because you haven't been judged, you are still free to roam around. Thus, you were able to go into Mewtwo's dream until you were found.” Her smile then transitioned to a solemn beam. “Your friends were praying for you and Mewtwo,” she murmured sadly. “They miss you a lot.”

Her eyes widened, a watery film dissolving into view. “They know...?”

“Not really.” She straightened up. “They just know you and Mewtwo are missing, and they've been looking everywhere for you, they're so worried.”

Mew laid a hand on her heart, feeling a twang of happiness at the news. “I'm worried about them, too,” she sighed. “I wish... I could let them know that.”

Amber took a glance over her shoulder. “You want to see them?” she softly requested.

She snapped her head up with a cautious look. “What's the catch?”

“There's no catch, really. But at the moment... I won't enable you to talk to them just yet.”

Her brows slightly rose. “Why? Is there... something wrong?”

Without another word, she gently pulled her through the thinning crowd. Mew began to fear the worst, but hoped at the same time it was more of a technical difficulty with communication, if spirits were capable of running into that. She stole looks from the surrounding spirits, wondering if any of them were aware of anything that may be happening on the other side. From the solemn expressions on their faces, something was going wrong. 

Her hand was released when they stopped, and she stared at the most bizarre thing she had ever seen. While it looked like it still continued down into the misty space, even showing other spirits lingering beyond it, there was the hint of a wave as if it was silky fabric with a velvet appearance. The size of it wasn't known, it seemed to rise and stretch into eternity.

Amber gazed upon it with that of love and nostalgia. “Do you know what the Veil's purpose is?” she inquired without tearing away from the sight.

Once she found her voice, Mew shook her head while stuttering, “I-I... well... you mentioned it separates the dead from the living...”

“Do you know why?”

“No...”

“It's a sign of mercy. If mortals knew what life was before birth and after death, they wouldn't make as many choices as Father would have liked them to make.” The girl sighed. “They would have been so homesick... and while Father does want us home, He wants us to be individuals, to 're-discover' ourselves. We're all so different, so unique, it just amazes us all when we find out He has always loved us, and was always there watching over us. And He misses us dearly, but knows that He will not interfere unless we want Him to.” She then turned to Mew, smiling at how awe-struck she was.

It took a few moments before the feline would speak. “Are... we going through there?”

“Not yet.” 

“Then why'd we come here?”

“Being close to the world of the living, we have more access and chances of success to contact the still-living souls past here.” She giggled a little. “It's also a little thinner here, so chances are those who are gifted with spiritual eyes can see us.”

The Legendary frowned a little. “I've been starting to see spirits lately, before Legion possessed my body,” she remarked, glancing over. “Why is that? I never saw them before, so why now?”

Crossing her arms behind her back, she replied, “The world's quieter now. And the Spirit World welcomed in so many beings at once, the Veil kinda burst some seams.” The thought must have been humorous to her for she laughed. “It was bound to happen anyway. But everyone has the ability to see spirits, it's just that many of us are too... _preoccupied_ to notice.” 

Mew hung her head a little. “I could have sworn it had to do with clairvoyance...”

“In a way, it does. But you have these gifts for a reason.” Reaching out, the child lightly touched the surface, and in a single circular motion smoothed it out flat. Before their eyes, the texture changed into that of glass, and their reflections were clearly seen. Beckoning toward the mirror, she stated, “Look past your reflection if you want to see your friends.” Her voice lowered. “But remember not to talk to them. Don't respond to them in any way at all. Just look... and be still.”

She was confused and hesitant, but the Legendary obeyed and drifted to the front. Trying to resist staring at her bloody form, she searched around and concentrated at looking beyond. Something in the back of her mind pointed out it was stupid, but she quickly dismissed it. She remained quiet the entire time, becoming aware that everything was darkening. Then, in the depths, physical, crowded shapes dissolved in. She slowly took in breath as the figures defined themselves into the Legendaries in mourning stances. They were all silent and refused to look at one another, choosing to stare off into space.

Though Mew didn't know how long she was gone for, she was astonished at how much they had changed. They were no different from before, but their expressions were very grave, and their bodies were covered with grievous wounds. None of them seemed to have attempted to stop the bleeding, nor even noticed their injuries. Very little tears were shed, the most were from Latias and Manaphy. For reasons unknown, a few were missing: Ho-oh, Lugia, Uxie, Azelf and Kyogre. Her heart went out to them, and she felt the gash on her arm throb.

It was then Darkrai lifted his head and made eye-contact. She felt her insides freeze up at how empty and pale his eyes were. Remembering Amber's statement of some of them being able to see her, and recalling how he was always close to spirits, she calmed down, even bringing a small smile to her lips. It was her way of telling him she was fine; there was no need to worry.

She expected him to raise himself off the ground, but she hadn't looked forward to him announcing to everyone, “It's Mew, she's here!” 

They all raised their heads toward her direction, revealing, to her disbelief, empty eyes. All of them exclaimed her name, and rushed forward to crowd around her. Their manner of movement, however, did not excite her. They weren't sounding glad to see her, apprehending her for her disappearance and for her behavior even though it was obvious they were worried. Their voices blended into a cacophonous wail as they all expressed their feelings at once.

“Where have you been, we were looking everywhere for you!”

“What's the deal, eh?!”

“ _Are you still pissed about the whole 'replenishing the earth' task?_ ”

“You scared us half-to-death with what you did to Celebi!” 

“Where's Mewtwo, what have you done with him?!”

“You're hurt! What'd you do to yourself?!”

“We've wasted three days searching!”

“What the hell, Mew? What. The. _Hell?_ ” 

“Why aren't you answering, Mew? Answer us!”

She remained in place, quaking under their harsh gazes and words, and feeling cold sweat trickle on her temples. They meant well, she knew that, it was the tone of voices that persuaded her otherwise. As they continued to gripe over her, she felt very uncomfortable and wanted nothing more than to reassure them with her voice. Her throat closed up on her, and her teeth bit down on her lip to keep from breaking Amber's request. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes the longer she stared back at each of them, taking in their darkening expressions and ever-growing bitter words. Her hands had squeezed hard enough to tremble, causing the blood to stream even faster down her arm.

“You're dead, aren't you, Mew?”

“Dead! That explains everything.”

“Explains the cut Celebi told us about, there it is!”

“She's not dead, or else we wouldn't see her.”

“Mew will save us, she's the key to our survival!”

“ _Save_ us? She can't even save herself!” 

“No matter, we need her back! We need you back, Mew!”

And then they reached out for her, slipping past the mirror and grasping her shoulders. The icy vibes of their touches and dripping blood made her gasp, but also unfortunately release a scream of horror. She was seized from behind and pulled back into the hold of the girl, who began trying to calm her down.

Mew continued to cry out, struggling in a desperate attempt to flee. “OH, GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!”

“Mew, please calm down.”

“I HURT THEM, NEARLY KILLED THEM!”

“You didn't do anything to them.”

“THEY TURNED INTO _MONSTERS_ BECAUSE OF ME!”

Amber dropped to her knees and squeezed the frightened Legendary into her. “It's not your fault. Nothing about them has changed.” 

“YOU DON'T KNOW THEM! _YOU DON'T KNOW THEM!_ ” She broke down into sobs, her movements receding to feeble twitches and shudders. Her arms fell limp as she continued to wail with every heart-clenching breath. The piercing tears burned her skin and scratches as they rained down, and both salty and bloody drops soaked into the dress. She continued to choke out words of hatred toward herself and lament for her friends.

Upon digging her fingers into her, she felt some comfort in the child rubbing her back. The girl rested her cheek between her ears, and whispered, “They miss you a lot, Mew.”

The feline shook her head. “But not in that way,” she whimpered.

“They care about you.”

“...I know...”

“You did well.”

“How would you know? Did you see them?”

“I could hear them,” she said, closing her eyes. “I only saw their arms, though...” Mew shivered, clutching tighter. “They really want you back.” 

“But why would they act like that?” The girl looked down, no signs of anxiety on her face. She slightly envied how calm she was. “I don't get it. If they miss me so much, why were they talking about me like that?”

Amber simply shrugged. “They must have been so over-joyed, they couldn't think properly. Maybe.”

“And their eyes... their bodies...” She pulled back for direct eye-contact. “Amber... what happened to them? Do you know?”

She didn't answer immediately until after she lifted up Mew's left arm for a closer inspection of her gash, and her shredded palm. “Legion brought back the Tree.”

Her eyes widened, gawking down at her injured hand like it was the plague. She knew the demon had been destroying her body, but how he did it wasn't known, the pain had been too unbearable to tell. For all she knew, it was self-inflicted. However, the news about the Tree of Beginning being brought back threw her off. She figured Legion was taking his sweet time, or that it would have been months before he could find a way to restore it.

Gulping down a gasp, she breathed out, “What did he do to me?”

Lifting her eyes to lock visions, Amber solemnly stated, “You are running out of time. It's only a matter of hours now.”

She coughed lightly from improper breathing. “ _Hours?_ For what?”

“When the Tree is grown up, it'll feed off the aura available. But... it looks like your blood was used to bring it back.”

Mew involuntarily pulled her arm back. “What!”

Standing up, the young lass glanced back at the mirror. “You weren't the only one, though...”

Brows furrowing, she spun around for a look herself, and her hands shot up to her mouth in appall.

In the thick of the dark mist, huddling and clutching at his head, was Mewtwo. He looked like he had gone mad, rocking in place and digging into his face near the eyes as he muttered indecipherably to himself, though they could hear his pitiful whimpers. He had many scratches on his figure, but it was hard to tell if they were intentional or by attack. Few were bleeding badly enough to leave a small puddle beneath him, staining him a deep pink. On closer inspection, she realized most of the blood-loss was from his chest on-up.

Shaking her head in disbelief, and gasping out quiet “no”s, Mew flew up to the mirror, pressing her hands to it in the hopes it would let her go through. When it didn't, she cried out “Mewtwo!”, gulping down her tears. “What's going on, what happened to you?!”

He made no motion he had heard her. She tried again, slapping the glass repeatedly. “Mewtwo, look at me! I know you can hear me, so please, look at me!”

Still no response as he continued to stare blankly out in space.

Her paws clenched into tight fists, and she pounded hard on the mirror's surface. “MEWTWO, ANSWER ME, _PLEASE!_ ” she hollered, voice cracking in the process. 

Amber pulled her back. “He can't hear you in this state.” 

The feline jerked away and resumed her hammering. “MEWTWO!”

“Mew, you're only hurting yourself further—”

“DAMN IT, MEWTWO, WHY WON'T YOU TURN AROUND?!”

“Mew, listen—”

“WHAT DO YOU _WANT?!_ ” she shrilled at the girl, tears flying from her eyes when she spun around. Her face was contorted in a mixture of rage and sorrow, sobs attempting to rip out of her throat.

Unfazed by her lashing out, Amber gave her calm response. “Mewtwo has closed himself off from all communication, though it may have been forced. He's torn between life and death.”

“Not _possible!_ ” Mew snapped. “He's strong-willed, he could never lower himself to such a thing!”

“Not unless he's been subjected to enough pain.”

“ _Wrong!_ ”

Amber slightly dipped her chin in. “Mew... does he have a weakness?” 

“ _No,_ what?! Weakness?! Mewtwo doesn't have a weakness that I—” She angrily shook her head. “He's the strongest Pokémon in the world! How can he have a weakness?”

Much to her dismay, the child smiled. “How do you know he hasn't developed one over the years?”

Mew held herself back from smacking her. _She's just a child, she doesn't know better..._ Taking a deep breath, she enunciated, “He is the _strongest_ Pokémon in the world. He _cannot_ have a weakness.” 

“Everyone has one, Mew. Mainly on the inside.” She reached out and laid a hand lightly on her chest. The gesture left the Legendary breathless. “Mewtwo has a heart, right?”

“If he didn't he wouldn't be living, would he?” 

Amber giggled a little. “I meant he has _feelings,_ right?”

Swallowing, she nodded. “Yes... he always has...”

“How do you know?” 

Glancing over her shoulder at her silent mate, she murmured, “If he wasn't angry, he showed a kind of fondness towards a lot of things. Though they were born out of a hatred for the world, he cares for his clones like they were his family. When they separated, he told me he felt it was for their own good. He couldn't continue protecting them, but he couldn't keep them close by either. They needed their space... at the risk of being forever apart.” 

“Is that his weakness?” 

“...in a way...”

“Is there anything else?” 

She took a breath. “Well... as time passed, he _did_ show compassion for the human race, and other Pokémon. Most notably with me... he stopped wanting to kill me after we became friends.”

Clutching her hands, the girl pressured, “And you?” 

Scrunching her eyes shut, Mew couldn't help but think back to Mewtwo's confession with Ho-oh. He had trembled from the thought of her and stuttered at the mention of her name. His spilling of his heart made her very own ache, and she had desperately then wanted to open up to him. The unfortunate events that followed only postponed it. She had her chance when he was dreaming, but it was once more put on hold to make room for their passionate moment. Whether or not his heart was into it, hers surely was, and thankfully he had managed to feel it before their separation.

But... how much did it hurt him? How much did it take to break him?

Looking teary-eyed back up at the child, she whispered breathlessly, “For God's sake, Amber... let him die. Look at him... he's been through enough. Legion's torn him apart in my absence. It's obvious he loves me with all his heart, but it's killing him. Please... fetch him and bring him here. He needs to be at peace.” 

Though she had expected it, Amber shook her head. “It's not his time yet.”

“But it wasn't my time either, and yet here I am!”

“Mew, I told you you're not dead.”

“Neither is _he!_ ” she gasped out, gesturing toward Mewtwo. “But he at least didn't _kill_ himself! Those wounds aren't of his doing,” she held out her arms, “unlike _my_ doing! I deserved my punishment, he hasn't for his!”

Tearing her eyes away from the gashes, the young lass sighed. “Do you want to die, Mew?”

She stumbled at the question. “Wha... err... n-no... No, I don't. Not really...” 

“So why do you want your mate to die and not you?” 

Her hands clenched tightly, though she barely noticed. “I don't want him to suffer,” she growled out. “He's gone through a lot in his life. He has that small desire to die, he's expressed it before.”

Amber stepped forward to clasp the feline's small paws. “Mew... you don't want to die,” she reviewed, “but you want _Mewtwo_ to die. This selfish wish of yours will only make your miseries worse. He wants to be with you, and you want to be with him. But if you are separated by the Veil for a longer period of time, your sadness will only grow. And... your love will die.” A solemn smile flashed for a moment. “While in time you both may find a new love, the special bond you two developed will be that ugly scar your new mate will forever see. It won't ever be as special, as pure, as this.” Kneeling, she retained her hold on Mew's hands as her eyes softened. “Can you feel it, Mew? Can you feel his pain? His sorrow? His love?”

The Legendary bit her lip when it quivered, an icy shiver extending from within her heart. She couldn't bring herself to verbally deny it, neither could she express that she felt it. Her pain had been strong enough to overcome it, though she knew the whole time it hadn't been hers. While her wounds dulled in time, the throbs remained to be a constant reminder. However... the more she thought about it, it was only then she realized it wasn't physical, it was instead _emotional._

A foreign, yet familiar emotional response...

“Mew...”

She turned around, quietly gasping at Mewtwo's tall figure beyond her reflection. His stance was shaky and hunched, the blood trickling down his form more freely. His wide violet gaze clenched her heart when their eyes met. Gingerly, he stepped forward, taking long, slow strides for the mirror, reaching out his hands in a pleading manner. 

In an instant, Mew shot up, pressing her hands on the glass. “Stop!” she cried out. “Don't come any closer!”

He wordlessly obeyed, fingers barely touching the surface. He stared down at her, visibly pained at her rejection. She swallowed down the lump before shaking her head. “You can't come here, Mewtwo,” she choked out, feeling as though her heart was starting to break. “I-I won't let you.”

He dropped to his knees, trembling hands remaining stretched out. When he spoke, it just about ripped her in two like she feared. “Mew... I want to be with you...”

Her tears overflowed as she hung her head. “I know you do... but you can't die.”

“I will not die—”

“Yes, you will!” Mew declared amidst her crying. “This side is the Spirit World! You pass through this mirror, you are going to die, and Legion will have won!” Her hands curled into loose fists as her levitation wavered. “A-And we won't be together. We'll be separated...” 

“...Mew, we will still be together.” 

“ARE YOU _BLIND,_ MEWTWO?!” She pressed her wrists up against the mirror, smearing the blood around. “I KILLED MYSELF! I AM LITERALLY IN A PERSONAL _HELL_ BECAUSE OF IT!” Demoted to pitiful wails, Mew pounded the glass, wishing it would shatter to reunite them and cut herself up at the same time. “I'm a _murderer!_ I can't be saved because I took lives away before their time! I killed them, I _killed them!_ They took my baby! _My baby... she took my baby..._ ” 

Battered by sobs, she collapsed onto the floor. The horrid memory of her miscarriage returned, clearer than ever, recalling the massive pain of the baby being cut out of her. Then there was Bridget's sincere apology about the infant's death, and “Sir” demanding she be re-impregnated. The blinding rage couldn't conceal what she had done. She was aware of what she did to the scientists, every one of them, in gruesome detail. The pungent stench of blood that had excited her so, the pleasure of hearing their screams of torture was the end result of her becoming a monster. She had felt no sympathy for any of them until after the carnage when she was subjected to the hauntings of their memory. 

And the near-death of her soul.

Unexpectedly, her paws were grasped and lightly squeezed, startling her back to reality. Mew quietly gasped and gazed wide-eyed up at Mewtwo, whose benevolent expression made her weep harder. She leaned upon the mirror, wanting his warm embrace, but accepting their interlocked hands all the same. The seemingly insignificant contact made her feel loved, the moment growing more intimate when he reached forward to brush away her tears; it was a silent gesture of forgiveness and understanding. She welcomingly tilted into his hold, grabbing onto his arm to keep it in place.

A look of longing transitioned into his eyes that very moment. Letting out a sad sigh, he muttered, “It was never your fault to begin with.”

She deeply frowned, burying half of her face into his palm. “How would you know, Mewtwo?” she murmured out, slowly shaking her head. “You don't have a clue as to how I feel right now.”

He gently pulled away from her grip to lay his fingertips on her chest. Her breath caught looking back at him. A small smile on his lips, Mewtwo lifted her chin up. “Then I propose we start opening up to each other now.” The beam faltered. “It... may be our only chance.”

Mew dipped her chin back in, then glanced over her shoulder at Amber. The girl had moved back to give them space, and she grinned when they made eye-contact, waving in encouragement. Taking a breath, she looked back at her mate, and rose closer to his eye-level. She laid a hand where she would have touched his cheek, pressing her forehead against the cool surface.

“Mewtwo... what's the point? We're separated by life and death. In our positions, we should know each other by now. Well... _I_ should, anyway... being a spirit and all.”

Surprisingly, he didn't appear to be disappointed at her response. He just reached through the mirror once again to cup her face. “I did not mean by that, Mew. Do you remember what happened the last time we were together?”

She bit her lip, nodding. “What are you getting at, Mewtwo?” 

His hands slipped down to her shoulders. “There was something special about our last kiss. Legion knows about it, he said our kiss had such a high commitment, it was almost celestial. It was then we developed a bond within our hearts that allows us to feel each other's emotions. Do you know what I am talking about?”

Mew involuntarily placed a hand on her chest, eyes beginning to well up as she nodded vigorously. After a few hesitated breaths, she whispered out, “What does it mean?”

“I am unsure myself, though possibly we can renew it or strengthen it. It seems nearly impossible physically, but how about spiritually?”

She shivered a little. “Mewtwo, you're not suggesting we... you know?”

He rubbed her shoulders. “No, this is not the time nor place for that.” He thoughtfully ducked his head for a few moments. “Mew, honey...” Her heart leapt into her throat at the word, and she had that feeling his did as well when he struggled to continue. “...y-you know everything is in chaos, especially now that the Tree is back. Legion has weakened me in an effort to fulfill his plan. Our friends... I am speculating they are in a bad spot as well. And you... oh, Mew...” He wiped at the claw marks on her face, visibly choking back tears. “Where did we go wrong?” 

Mew only shook her head. “It doesn't matter, Mewtwo... there's nothing we can do now.”

He tightened his hold, causing her to tense. “No... no, there has to be a way. I know there is.”

“Does it have to do with whatever it is you want us to do together?”

“Probably not. But in the long-run... at least we will be together.”

She wavered in her levitation, supporting herself beside the mirror. “Mewtwo, if it means coming over here, my answer's still 'no',” she moaned, a little disappointed. “I can't have you die like this.”

The corners of his mouth upturned briefly. “It has nothing to do with death. I promise.”

Suddenly, there was a reverberating twang in her heart, spreading throughout her body that left her breathless and trembling. Their gazes fully locked, and the tears trickled down. Acting on her own accord, Mew flattened up against the glass, lips scarcely touching the surface. Mewtwo slid a shaky hand behind her head as he leaned forward, slipping through to brush a tender kiss to her mouth. Just as they made contact, the tiny Legendary felt herself fall into him, enabling her to wrap her arms around his neck in response.

Once they touched, it felt like a fire seared to life throughout their bodies. The surprise of it all jumpstarted their breathing, and when they gasped in unison, they meshed together to keep steady, gripping the other tightly in reaction and resuming the kiss. Immediately, Mew could feel the aches of her wounds acting up due to the quickening beats of their hearts, but she unheeded them. Almost like it was second nature, she opened up further to exchange part of her soul.

It was then she could feel rising inside him the urge to press her onto a flat surface and have his way with her. His hands were twitching against her body as the carnal desire raced through his veins, a deep groan in his chest. She quickly grasped his shoulders, shaking her head while remaining glued to his lips. She held him in high expectation for keeping his promise, not wanting to easily give it up. The clone quietly moaned in return, and as his trembling slowly receded, slipped up a hand to brace her neck as the passion softened.

And then she gave a plea from the bottom of her heart. There was nothing pitiful about it, neither a spur of the moment or a well-thought-out line. It wasn't even physical, yet it felt like she expelled it into his mouth and down to his core. She didn't know if it would reach him, if at all.

_Don't leave me._

To her utmost surprise, almost momentarily, he paused above her with shallow breaths and the taste of tears—her tears—on his lips. Mew let out a muffled mewl, trying to dam up the rest as she quivered under his touch. In a reluctant move, he broke the kiss with a slow sigh. As she took a breath, her eyes opened to find him hovering over her, irises the brightest she had seen them. He lovingly ran a thumb down her cheek, swiping away blood and tears, and swallowing a lump in his throat.

“I can never leave you, Mew,” he quietly uttered, his forehead rested against hers. “I am always with you... as long as we can feel one another here,” and he gestured to her heart.

She blinked in amazement up at him before she gave him a tiny smile. “It worked...”

He chuckled lightly. “Indeed.” He then winced slightly, his hands clenching, and reluctantly released her. “I hope you will find a way back, Mew. We need you.”

Mew nodded, still feeling light from the bonding. “I know... I'm sure I will, though. I never would have found my way here, honestly.” She gave a giggle, wiping at her eyes. “I'm just so thankful I was found.”

Mewtwo rose his brows, looking over her shoulder. “Found by whom? Are they here?”

She paused, glancing back at Amber who hadn't moved from her spot, still with her trademark smile. While it saddened her that the clone possibly couldn't see her, she remembered that _she_ couldn't fully see him beyond the mirror, either. Deeply inhaling, Mew verbally expressed, “A little angel who led me back to you.” She spun back around to see him crack a smile at her statement, making her flush. “It _is_ the Spirit World, after all.”

“Will this angel know how to bring you back to us?”

“I'm sure. She's very well informed.”

Pleased about her answer, Mewtwo caressed her face and touch foreheads once more. “I love you, Mew,” he breathed out, a soft light in his eyes.

Mew extended a hand to touch his cheek, only to find the mirror had regenerated itself between them. Taking a breath to steady herself, she went ahead to resort taking his hand, closing her eyes. “I love you, too... Mewtwo...”

He squeezed her paw before pulling away, leaving an impression behind. She didn't dare look back up until she felt a hug from behind. She was met with the sight of their reflections, and nothing more.

They were silent for a while until the feline finally found her voice. “Amber... will I be able to return home to my body?”

The girl nodded. “You will.”

“When?”

She tightened the embrace. “Very soon. Just give them a chance to discover themselves again.”

Mew blinked in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

Amber giggled. “While they can't defeat their enemy, they can at least escape by means of being themselves.”

She understood enough she went ahead to question on another topic of interest. “How much of Mewtwo did you see... by the way?”

A dreamy smile appeared on the child's face, her gaze almost that of a far-away look. “Enough to know he's how I've always seen him... and that he loves you very much.”

Mew frowned slightly, turning her back on the mirror. “Amber, do you know why it was Mewtwo and I were able to be together like that?” She fiddled with her fingers. “Um... you saw it, right? The mirror seemed to have let me through... or it disappeared or something...”

Looking back up, she was taken aback at how puzzled Amber was herself. “To be honest, Mew, that has never happened before, that I know of.” She shrugged with a laugh. “ _But_ it's a sign you two have transcended death itself of that of a celestial status.” 

A chill ran up her spine. “What... exactly does that mean?” 

She took her hands, and happily explained, “You and Mewtwo are life-mates, even after death. You helped strengthen and renew that bond, didn't you feel it? A burning feeling?” Her smile widened at Mew's shocked expression, eyes sparkling with joy. “Excuse me for being so excited over it, it was the first time I saw a couple being sealed together. Personally, anyway.” 

The Legendary could hardly believe what she heard, but the peaceful, warm sensation deep inside her was testifying of it otherwise. It had been so overwhelming, she could hardly handle it herself. Even Mewtwo had been struggling throughout it. Strangely enough, however, she could have sworn it was circulating through them both the entire time, so they shared the same emotions and pain. She had felt that very lust creeping up inside of him, threatening to repeat itself. Barely able fight it off with her love, she had begged for a release, and he heard her.

It was then she knew he truly loved her, and she wanted nothing more than for them to always be together. She didn't want him to leave, but knew in her heart that their current conditions would have made it impossible without consequences. As much as it hurt, she had been at peace, like she knew everything would be okay from then on, no matter what happened.

Her thoughts and heart set on Mewtwo's well-being, Mew felt once more the great pain and sorrow crying out from his depths, along with a plea for death. However, there was also his love for her, his desire to keep her pure no matter what Legion was going to throw in his way. There was a growing hope in his heart that she would return, rekindling his will to live. Despite everything the demon had crushed to reach his soul, it was that love and their new special bond he could never take away.

It made her smile to know she had his heart forever.


	15. Suffering

“ _Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,_

_Quoniqm cum probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae”_

_\-- “Lilium”, Kumiko Noma, Elfen Lied_

*~*~*

It was one of the most quiet, yet empty areas of the Tree. Some time back, however, Mewtwo had been subjected to the physical part of Legion's punishment in that very room, and it was filled with much unrest. He wasn't forced to partake in any sexual activities, but he had to be harmed. The bodily torture was painful, and it resulted in more damage to his mental stability, intentionally or not. The demon had laughed the entire time, relishing in the bloodshed and risking mortally injuring him.

And the _mind control._

He could barely remember it all except that the loss of his will was terrifying. He had been forced to cut himself up, to taste the last moments of his beloved, so he was told. Horrible images were presented to him, everything from his past, his friends, his enemies, and Mew. Many were genuine, and even though he knew others were false, they were easily believed. He briefly remembered screaming throughout it, he just wasn't sure if it was vocal or silent. Legion might have heard his mind shatter for the pain was quick to dull when he was released. With the promise of “more on the way”, the clone had been left in his own pool of blood, barely conscious and a shadow of his former self.

How long he was out for, he didn't know. Mewtwo just knew he wished for his death, wanting an end to the hell he was in. He may have passed out to have found himself in a black abyss with nowhere else to escape from the horrendous moments. For a long moment, he was sure he had gone insane, his mind broken even further, and the desire for endless sleep was growing.

And then... he had heard her calling his name.

He had told himself he was imagining it, and tried to ignore its increase in tone. And when he couldn't take it, he made himself look over to find Mew with her back facing him. He didn't want to believe it, thinking it was all in his head. But the longer he stared, the more life-like she had looked, and he risked it all to say her name.

She may not have responded positively at first, but she soon opened up to him. His heart had ached the entire meeting in finding her in a worse position than he, and he wanted nothing more than to be with her, and give her comfort. Dream or not, he didn't care then, just as long as they were together. Even when she showed him her still-bleeding wounds and sobbed about her grievous sin, he still desired her.

It was then Mewtwo had recalled a previous memory, their last moment together, and the demon's own commentary on it. Legion had mentioned it was the most special of their kisses, in that it was binding—“almost celestial” as he had put it. And upon remembering that connection, he had begun to feel her bitter anguish toward herself, her suffering tearing deep into his very core. He couldn't bear to see her in pain any longer, yet the only relief he had assured her with was to open her own heart for him. It was all he believed he could do for her in that place.

...her heart and soul was in her kiss, he had felt it all. Mew was the most realistic being he had ever touched, becoming more alive the longer he held her. He took in everything about her from her sinuous form to her hot breaths, to her fluttering heartbeats pounding against his chest. Then came her love and pain, searing heat pouring in and filling him up. He felt her inner desire to be angry at what caused her such suffering, wanting her life renewed, only to wane and forgive in the end.

Despite his senses overloading, he had wanted more to satiate the long-term desires, but her trust stopped him. Once he cast it from mind, she was grateful for it, and in turn entrusted him the final key to her heart. The two had never felt more at peace with one another than at that moment. They were hesitant to let each other go upon returning to where they belonged.

For some time now, Mewtwo just stared at the crystals, faint but alive. It was a slow regaining of consciousness that left him heavy and light at once. The sacred event he had with Mew was still perceptible, and yet he wondered in aside if it was a dream. There could have been no way he would have run into her and experienced such a spiritual moment. He had been told this entire time by Legion she was dead, rotting in Spirit Prison for her sins. However, Mew herself said he shouldn't believe everything he was told. But how could he be sure this wasn't one of his dreams, a string of events that was leading up to his consummation with his counterpart?

And if it was real... did that mean he had died?

It was unlikely. For all he knew, he might have just been on the edge of death. It seemed more likely that if he ever _did_ give up the ghost, the demon would be right behind him to pull him back.

It took a few tries for the clone to cautiously lift himself up to sit back against the wall, wincing at the aches and stings of his wounds. The blood freely dripped down his body like thick rain, leaving behind a gunky feeling against his fine fur. He found himself struggling to breathe, his muscles tensing up so they left him trembling, and his vision was starting to falter—unless the crystals were too bright of a red on the eyes. He had to blink several times to get adjusted to the aura glows, and he thanked his lucky stars he could still see.

He had enough strength to pull himself away from the bloody puddle, and then slumped back to stare anxiously at the exit straight across. He judged it was only several feet away from the size of the room. It was just in reach, he could bring himself to crawl and he'd be outside in a few moments. As much as his brain screamed at him to take the chance and escape, he couldn't find the will to do it. Whether it was because of the poor state he was in, or because he feared what was beyond the room, he himself didn't know. Though he had that feeling he wasn't supposed to even step foot outside without permission...

“Did you wake up yet, dear?” he heard Mew's voice call from the hallway. The tone chilled him to the bone. “I could have sworn you have if the crystals are glowing nicely again.”

The way she entered into the chamber made him wish he had remained unconscious. A hand rested lazily on a hipbone, and when she moved, she seductively swung said-hips, her tail bobbing in rhythm. The worst feature, however, was how disturbingly calm her face was, a sly smile on her lips and eyes peering at him from beneath her eyelids. She paused before Mewtwo, studying him carefully before darting her vision over to the bloodstain. A frown creased her brows, and she crossed her arms, resting a hand under her chin.

“What a shame,” she sighed nonchalantly. “It is never going to come out. But no matter, I will just have the bed placed there. We will forget about it eventually.”

The psycat shifted uncomfortably. “What bed?” he muttered.

“Did I not tell you? This will be our bedchamber, to be the main place of conceptions and births of our beautiful children.”

As much as he wanted to speak out against it, Mewtwo ended up instead blurting out, “I thought the Heart was to be our room.”

“I never said that. But I want to be in there until after the birth of our firstborn. Speaking of which...” Mew floated down to wrap her arms around his neck. “What shall we call our first child? It has to be special, to show his heritage.”

“It may turn out to be a girl,” he added on his own accord.

He wished he kept his mouth shut when a fanged smirk gleamed, constricting his heart further. “Impossible. The heir is _always_ male. But just to be on the safe side, I will make sure the firstborn _is_ male.” Her tail drooped down to rest against his lower abdomen, and he tensed up. “I would hate to do it since it might halt your activity, but if it needs be, I shall do it.” Glancing down, she briefly rubbed the bulbous end alongside his inner thigh, causing him to tremble. “Unfortunately, Mewtwo, if you are as sterile as you claim you are... well, let me just say you better pray for mercy on the other side.”

He braced himself against the wall, gritting his teeth. “What are you... what are you getting on?” The fondling below increased, and he had to choke back a gasp.

“I am just doing a 'test run', is that all right with you, _dear?_ ” She moved in and brushed light kisses to his parted lips. He moaned out a few “no”s before she silenced him by biting his mouth. He flinched at the intensity, feeling helpless by this time. “You cannot fight it,” she murmured into him, only worsening his dilemma. “You are hopelessly drawn to her. It is only a matter of time now,” she briefly pulled away, pressing their foreheads together, “before you surrender to me.”

He shook his head, taking in a couple of breaths before countering, “It may be Mew's body... but you are not her. I cannot love the body if I do not love the spirit.”

Scowling, she dug her claws into his cheeks. “We shall see, then,” she challenged. “We shall see what holds up in the end: the heart, or the body.”

“It will not matter,” he hissed out. “Dead or alive, my heart will always be with Mew.”

Legion let out a breathy chuckle. “You are so pitiful now. I guess I must have gotten carried away, since you are no fun anymore.” Mewtwo only chose to glare back the best he could, fighting to cease his squirming. It made her laugh harder. “Not even the world's most powerful Pokémon can resist the necessities of the body. Now you have to fight two at once.” Then she leaned forward and clamped down on his lips, slowly running the tip of her tongue upon the soft flesh.

The clone shuddered under the sensuality of it, barely catching himself from panting. She made no effort to push herself through his teeth as she teased around his mouth's edge, ghosting her fingers along his neck. The actions brought out more protests from him where half wanted to join in, while the other refused and wanted her gone. He made the attempt to push her off only for her to latch on further and bring out a moan as she sucked on his lips. He was aware the strokes of her tail were causing him to steadily return a kiss, to get him used to her seduction. He was unfortunately still weak, and he was growing more relaxed the harder and longer the petting lasted. It came to the point all he could do was mutter protests and feebly move his head around.

That was when he thought of Mew. Sweet, innocent Mew... her lips the taste of virginal rain, her kisses deliciously slow with the hint of passion, her touches gingerly running electricity through his skin as she memorized his form... How many times had he dreamed of the night they become one... where her eyes took on the night sky, and her body radiated a glow of moonlight? He had them since their first kiss, never going further than pressing their bodies against the ground as she gasped his name. He yearned for that day, but feared it all the same. He questioned it, even himself, about its nature. Was it trying to tell him something? Did it have anything to do with love? With lust?

He wondered if she was feeling the same emotions on the other side, struggling with her own desires. Though how could she, why would she have the same problems as he? If anything, she would be more worried about his condition than whether-or-not she wanted him. Sex had to be the last thing on her mind; she was pure like that. If he loved her because of that, why was he unable to control himself?

It was then Mewtwo realized he had let his guard down for too long (not hard because Legion had broken his mental walls). He didn't know if he was still in control of his own body or not, yet he was beginning to enjoy it, pulling Mew's body closer and running his hands about her curves. She let out a sigh—or a breathy chuckle, he couldn't tell—intensifying the kiss as she tilted her body against him. She then grabbed a hand and slipped it below her, encouraging a finger to roughly rub. Mewtwo fidgeted, somehow unable to remove his intrusive paw as he was forced to caress her womanhood. Even when she let him go, he found himself unable to stop, his rising body heat causing him to quake and his breaths to quicken. She moaned into his lips before she parted and leaned back. With his other hand, he supported her neck and brushed his mouth against her throat right as his fingers found an opening—

“Lord Legion, I have arrived with the Legends—am I interrupting something?”

The clone fell back in response to look over at the newcomer, eyes widening. Standing at the entrance was a full-grown male human, staring at the two with a raised brow and what may have been a dumbfounded expression on his face. Mew opened her eyes, leering at him.

“Not in its entirety,” she huffed. “But it does not matter, now that you are here.” A frown then creased her brows as she scanned him. “Why are you naked?”

He glanced down at himself, then shrugged. “This was how the body regenerated.”

“You _could_ have picked up some clothing.”

“No one seems to care much. Though one of the idiotic Legends commented about it, said it made him feel—”

“That will do, Jediah,” she growled, rolling her eyes.

The man pouted. “But he made me feel uncomfortable with myself.”

“I _said_ that will do.” She wriggled free from Mewtwo's loose grip, then smirked over at him. “By the way, I do not believe you have met Mewtwo, have you?”

The human only shot a glimpse at him before bowing. “Sir, we have captured the Legendaries like you had asked.”

“Ah, yes! I had gotten so lost in the moment, I nearly forgot you were coming.” The clone shivered, dropping his gaze. She silently laughed and invited, “Well, what are you waiting for? Send them in!”

Jediah moved to hurry out of the room, then looked around the tiny chamber. “Er... there is a small problem.”

Her eyes flashed. “ _What?_ ” she snarled.

He and Mewtwo flinched, and he quickly rephrased himself, “N-Not like that, Legion—sir! It is more like size problems! Many of them are too big to come inside. So everyone is waiting out in that lovely field the Tree had graciously made. It has a beautiful view, have you seen it?”

“Why did you not mention this in the first place?” Scoffing, Mew just waved her paw. “I am not going to bother wasting my anger out on your idiocy. Just lead us there.”

With a nervous nod, he slipped away. She turned around to face her captive, raising him up with her telekinesis. He struggled to regain balance until she laid her hands on his chest, freezing him in place. A smirk spread from ear-to-ear, a sick excitement illuminating up her eyes.

“Come along, darling. Let us show everyone how _happy_ we are together.” Then her voice dropped to a sultry purr. “We will pick it back up later... _if_ you behave in front of our guests.” Digging her claws deep into his barely-scabbing palm, she dragged him off smiling like a maniac.

It seemed no matter what corners they turned, or what tunnels they entered, everything was the same—though it may have been because the lighting was so red. The crystals were hauntingly beautiful, but as it was his blood that helped bring them to life, it only frightened him. He wondered if it was still draining him, if it ever greedily soaked in any droplets that he bled on them. And if it did, wouldn't he be weaker despite Legion's claims of keeping him alive longer? Mewtwo desperately tried to take his mind off it with little success. There was hardly anything else to think of besides how his friends were holding up. He was being honest with himself in that he was nervous about seeing them. While he did miss them, he didn't want to know what happened in their captures.

Legion couldn't wait to show him, as the grin suggested.

The light was jarring on the eyes the moment they stepped outside. Once he grew used to it, he was amazed and horrified at how accurate the new Tree was to its old design. With the exception of the crystals being blood-red, it was an exact copy of a casual field that had once thrived inside the Tree. The vegetation was perfectly healthy, the lake clean and sparkling, even the sky seemed to be blue from here. As typical as it was, what made it more unnerving was how full of life this very area was. Pokémon that had died months ago were roaming around like nothing had ever happened, nonchalantly frolicking throughout the field. If Mewtwo hadn't known better, he would have thought he had just been dreaming the entire time and now just woke up, Mew pulling him along possibly to play a game of tag or whatever she was in the mood for.

It would have been the case had he not noticed his fellow Legendaries huddling in the midst of it all. He silently gasped the closer he got, feeling his spirits sink at the sight of their grievous wounds. From the looks of it, there was no way they could still hold themselves up. For the most part, them being bunched up was what kept them stable, though what made it all worse was the fear visibly present in their eyes and tremblings. Many were on the verge of tears (Latias and Manaphy were the typical ones to be sobbing), while the others tried desperately to hold them back.

It just about broke his heart when they spotted him and could only stare at his current state, some slowly shaking their heads in awe. His hand flinched when Mew's claws punctured deeper into his palm. She paused directly before them, a sly smirk on her lips as she took her time scanning them, and intimidating them with her presence. It didn't take long before one of the Legendaries spoke up.

“Oh, Mewtwo... Mew,” Rayquaza sighed, painfully smiling. “Oh, thank God you're here. You have no idea how long we've looked for you.”

Legion seemed a little displeased. “You are still breathing before a demon lord, and all you have to say is 'thank God'?”

A noticeable wave of shivers ran through the crowd when they all made eye-contact. “Mew... oh good Lord...” Cresselia gasped, slightly pulling away from Darkrai's hold. “What happened to you? And Mewtwo... what's going on?”

“Do you wish to find out so soon, _goddess_?” The bitter tone made the phantom protectively bring her back behind him. It made Mew scoff. “Of course. It is unlike you to leave her in harm's way, for if one dies, the other has no purpose in life. But if they both live, they are forever conflicted with one another. How you two looked past the other's flaws still eludes me. Perhaps you would like to explain?”

Darkrai gritted his teeth, his hands clenching. The lunar swan reached forward to grasp one of them, peering at Mew with a worried look. “Mew, why are you doing this? Can't you see you're scaring us?”

She barked out a laugh. “I just love teasing you, Cresselia, dear! Is that not what friends are for? Your relationship is no different from ours, am I right, honey?” She smirked over at the clone, who only glanced away.

Giratina glimpsed down at the ghoul before looking back at Mew. “Who are you?” he growled out. “What have you done to Mew?”

“Ah, about time someone acknowledged me!” she cried out in mock glee. “And by Giratina, no less! It would be apparent you would recognize my presence. You have been on my case lately, have you not?”

His scarlet eyes slowly widened. “You... it was you I was sensing the entire time?”

Mew let out a light cackle.

“Explain, Mew!” Celebi shouted out, wincing when he jerked an arm. Mewtwo swallowed the moment he saw it was very out of place. Mesprit wept upon glimpsing at it herself. “You have worried us these past few days about your whereabouts! What happened here? Why is the Tree alive again? Wh... Why are we here?”

She tilted her head, grinning widely. “You should know who I am by now,” she quietly said through her teeth, “and that Mew is no longer with us.”

Latios held his sister closer before speaking out, “Mew, you're unwell! You have neglected yourself for too long! Look at yourself! Look at Mewtwo, I mean... my God, Mew! What is the meaning of this?!”

“To show you no mortal, no matter how _powerful_ he claims to be, is immune to my power!” she screamed, roughly throwing Mewtwo to the ground. The Legendaries gasped, and some spouted out swears. “This has what become of your strongest in a measly three days! All of you combined can never withstand what he has gone through! You would have gone mentally insane by the day's end!”

The psycat had little strength in him, and could only stare pitifully up at his fellow brethren from where he lay, taking in their horrified and distraught expressions. He closed his eyes to avoid their gazes, ducking his head, praying for rest. He was denied it when Legion pulled him up to his knees by the cord.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot. Mewtwo, darling, tell everyone how far our relationship has come to.”

At the corner of his eye, he saw a threatening glint, whether it was her teeth, eyes, or even blood, he couldn't tell. He was afraid to look, but also afraid to speak out. Tears obscured his vision when she squeezed harder.

“Say something,” she hissed in his ear. “It is not that difficult to say 'Mew and I are mates', now is it?”

Breath stuck in his throat, he just shook his head, silently begging for a release. Growling, she shoved him over. “You are pitiful, Mewtwo! You would snap at me about your undying love for Mew, and yet you cannot even announce it to your friends! I would think they should at least get that much out of you before they die!” He only shivered, hands loosely curling into fists. “So... you are giving us all the silent treatment, then. Very well. But I want you to watch as I slowly rip your friends apart one by one.” Snapping her head up at the shrinking Legendaries, her face faltered. She scanned them a few times, eyes widening in astonishment. “I only count twenty-six.”

One of the humans nearby perked up, leaning forward. “Pardon, Lord Legion?”

Ignoring him, she called off to the side, “Jediah!”

He stepped up to her, bowing. “Yes, sir?”

She gestured to the confused group, refusing to look at him. “Explain everything in the most honest tone you can manage, so that I may not decide to rip your temporal body apart and prohibit you from being in my presence ever again.”

He paled, and twiddled with his thumbs. “Well, sir... we were at their gathering spot at Cherrygrove like you had said they were in,” he slowly prattled off. “Although weakened, they put up a good fight. We tried our hardest not to kill them, of course, though some have gotten injured—okay, all of them got injured, but not _too_ life-threatening for the most part. Er... we had problems transporting them over here, especially since most of them woke up in the middle of it... I am just as surprised as you are that we got them all here in one piece—why are you looking at me like that, sir?” he then squeaked.

His mouth suddenly formed an “O”, eyes widening as he slowly turned to the Legendaries. He carefully counted each of them, then tensed up, throwing his hands up to his face as he backed away. “Oh dear... L-Lord Legion, sir, I admit it was an honest mistake! We were just doing what you ordered us to, w-we did not know there would be some missing! B-But rest assured, we will find them!”

“YOU _BETTER_ FIND THEM, OR YOU WILL TAKE A SWIM IN THE LAKE OF FIRE!” Legion hollered at him, startling everyone within hearing range, chasing off the Pokémon that had been oblivious to them. Mew's face was contorted into intense rage, and her claws deeply pierced her palms, the skin nearly peeling off when she stretched out her fingers. “Find those bastards, and I will consider a lesser punishment for you, if at all! This goes for all those who went with this fool! Do not fail me again!”

Immediately, the humans and Pokémon involved sped for the exit, Jediah in their wake. The field was nearly empty when the commotion was over with, an unnatural silence following afterwards. No one dared to move or verbally cry, having been frightened to near-death. They could only stare at the demon, fully convinced this was not the Mew they knew. When she swerved her head back to them, they wished their hearts would stop.

“You got very... very lucky,” she dangerously murmured, eyes penetrating into their souls. “I promised Mewtwo I would kill you _all_ , but as it seems there are quite a few of you missing.” She sneered down at the clone, who still averted his eyes from her. “Unfortunately for you all... I do not wish to let this moment go to waste. I only brought us out of our bedchamber so he could witness your deaths.”

The Legendaries shifted uncomfortably where they stood, some whimpered softly at the statement. Smirking, Mew floated over to a crystal to lay her hand on it. It illuminated, and she pulled out many long, thin, flexible spires from its depths. Draping them across her arm, she isolated a few and plaited them, repeating it until nine pieces of crystallized rope were made. They then watched as she straightened them in a clenched hand and slowly dipped them into the depths. Breaths caught in their throats as they watched her pulled back to reveal a sleek handle. They felt the terror grip their hearts as she swung it around a few times. With a side glance at them, she flipped it upside-down for the loose strands to slip into the spire. She left it inside a few moments longer, then slowly lifted them up.

Their blood ran cold at the sight of spikes littering the ends of the leash.

Stroking and tracing the whips, Legion chuckled out, “I find it blood-curdling as well, but I am also fond of it. Many a grown man has feared this punishment. Flogging is really only reserved for severe punishment, and even then, they have a limit on it.”

“...what does this have to do with us?” Palkia asked in a worried tone.

She wickedly grinned. “Each of you will be given a certain number of lashes depending on size. Someone of Mew's size may get no more than five, however... for those of gargantuan size, forty shall be the maximum. Unless you still show some strength left, then I may take it to forty-five. But then again... I may just need a bigger whip.” She snickered through her teeth, rubbing one of the spikes.

Latias held tight to Latios and wailed, “Mew, why are you doing this?! We're your friends!”

Mew swung the whip in her direction, intentionally striking the ground before her, though it was enough to make her shriek and shrink back. “Mew is not here! How many times do I have to repeat myself?!” she snarled, levitating closer. “Do I have to beat it into your heads before you get it?!”

There came a cough from Mewtwo as he struggled to pull his weight up. “Legion... they do not know any better,” he panted out, meeting the pallid icy eyes.

“So, you finally decided to speak!” she spat with a glare. “There is nothing you can do for them now.”

“L-Legion,” he croaked out again, his chest heaving, “I beg of you... leave them out of this... This is only between you... a-and I.”

A slow, evil grin lit up on her face. “Prove it. Stand and look me in the eye, and tell me why I should spare them.”

He glanced down at the trailing whips, shivering at the gleam they gave off. He couldn't help but imagine it coated in his friends' blood, hearing the whistles and clinking it would make whenever it would swing... the pained screams of mercy... Taking in a few breaths, he steadily pushed himself up to his knees, elbows quaking under pressure. The strain proved too much as he fell forward, the Legendaries quietly gasping.

A cruel laugh ripped its way out of Mew's throat. “I thought so.” Then she turned to face her captives. “Who shall be the first, I wonder?” she mused, making her way down the line, bringing those in the front to tears. Her eyes suddenly snapped down to a whimpering Manaphy, and her grin glinted. “How about you, sweet Prince?”

He squealed a “No!” when she snatched him by the arm and dragged him out to the open, ignoring the protests of the other Legendaries. Those in the front moved to grab him only to be held back by a barrier, which they proceeded attempting to break through. Mewtwo snapped his head up at the young Pokémon's cries, shaking his head. She tossed Manaphy before her and lifted him up with her telekinesis, forcing his arms to stretch out beside him. Mew then lifted the whip, dangling it behind his neck to check the distance as she backed away. With a smirk, she raised the weapon above her head.

The clone quickly struggled to his knees, pulling a muscle doing so, and yelled out, “Legion, please hear me out!”

She glanced over, still poised. Everyone looked over at him, holding their breaths, the Seafaring Legendary doing so with a pleading gaze. He hung his head for a few moments, biting his lip. “Please... let them go. They know nothing of what has been happening the past few days. They do not know where Mew is, nor do they know our situation. All they did was come look for Mew and I, that is all.”

He swallowed down a lump, easing his way to his feet. “Legion... your plan does not involve them. Why tell them anything if you are going to kill them anyway? You are just putting them through pain and emotional suffering before you end their lives. I do not wish death on my friends... but if you do end up killing them, I do not want it slow and painful. You already put Mew and I through it, I do not want anyone else to experience it.”

Legion remained silent, lowering the whip. Mewtwo felt a little relief at the sight, but he didn't lower his guard. Taking a quick look at the Legendaries, he continued, growing more confident as he spilled out his emotions. “In response to all the questions I have refused to answer: nothing you do or say... will keep me from loving Mew. Even if you drag me to the ends of the earth, down to the depths of Hell and beyond... I shall never, ever deny it. How can I? The same goes to them... my peers, my friends... I am not that of hate, not anymore. If anything... I-I am grateful to them, in some form or another.” He breathed out a chuckle, weakly smiling up at them. “I am so glad... they were worried about Mew and I. That I am content with...”

Turning to the demon, he brought himself to take a wobbly step forward. “Do what you will to me, Legion... I do not care anymore. You have beaten my body, and my will into such submission, I lack the strength to fight you.” As though to prove his point, when he advanced again, he dropped to his knees. “Bruise me, enslave me, torture me... kill me, I do not care. But please, let them go. Let Mew go... Whether you release her to her body or to her death... it does not matter anymore, for we cannot be separated by death. Just please... let them go.”

It was silent for a few moments after he finished. He felt better for getting it off his chest, even in front of the Legendaries, and he was sure Legion was having second thoughts. However, when Mewtwo took a closer look, he noted at how dark Mew's face grew. Her wide eyes glowered at him from beneath her brows, lips curled into a sneer, and her ears were flattened against her skull. She dug her fingers into the crystalline handle as she slowly took a long, deep breath, and broke eye-contact to crack the whip against Manaphy's back.

The flogging had happened so quick without warning, the tiny Legendary had no time to scream out in pain. His jaw dropped in a inaudible gasp as his eyes nearly bugged out, and that was it. Not even the Legendaries could bring themselves to verbally exclaim, they just watched in total awe as she executed a second time around. He then managed to strain out a cry on the third stripe, inducing Latias to shrill out “Leave him alone, _please_!”, pounding on the barrier.

The clone was very taken aback at Legion's actions, flinching whenever the whip contacted with the Prince's body. While the others screamed at him to show mercy, he could only mentally count the number of strikes being delivered. He hoped it would end at five like promised, but it only continued without a moment's pause. While he couldn't see the inflicting damage directly, the amount of water splattering to the ground—though upon closer inspection, it was thick and a darker blue—was enough of a visual to show the demon was growing out of control.

Eight... nine... a tenth flog passed, and still no signs of slowing. Manaphy's voice had been steadily becoming strained from his tortured cries, his body slumping in place. On the twelfth, judging by the horrendous wails and when the whip was forcibly snapped back, one of the spikes had gotten stuck, and snapped off. Mewtwo's stomach churned, and he clutched at his head, dropping his gaze to the grass before him.

 _No more... no more of this!_ his mind moaned out on the verge of tears. _This madness has to end!_

There came another strangled cry, and he saw blood splash into his line of vision, even felt it speckle his face. The screams grated his eardrums, driving him further into sickness and insanity. Then he heard it... louder than any other ambient noise... the unmistakeable cackle, so unlike her voice, but he couldn't tell if it was in the present or from memory. It was just _there_ , like she was laughing in his ear at that very moment, mocking him with every breath as she beat him into a bloody wreck, calling him names, telling him he was worthless, unloved, an abomination hated by all—

“Stop it, stop it, _stop it, STOP IT!_ ”

And there was a loud pop before him, and the slight thud of a body hitting the ground caught his attention. He snapped his head up, first spotting the Legendaries all leaning over each other, arms up from banging on the barrier, staring in dismay off to the side. He slowly scanned the grass covered in puddles of blood that led to the twitching body of Manaphy. His back was torn to shreds, hardly an inch was spared. Latias approached with caution, gingerly scooping him into her arms as she cried, tilting her head up. Swallowing down his nausea, Mewtwo hesitantly lifted his eyes.

Mew's body was held suspended, arm frozen above her with the whip hanging off her fingers. Her neck and back had been forcibly bent at a wrong angle, her head hanging out of sight. He gasped sharply, stumbling onto his haunches backing away as he trembled in fright, and dry heaved. The Legendaries tore themselves away to gawk at him, watching as his eyes widened to a point his irises and pupils appeared to have shrunk. The sight was unsettling, they couldn't help but feel anguished from the moment.

There then came a crack, and they watched as Mew disturbingly hunched herself forward and twisted her spine and neck back in place with a snap. Blood thickly dribbled from her mouth, nose and ears, though they were sure her eyes were also bleeding judging by how red they looked when she swerved over to face him. Her teeth were clenched tightly, veins pulsing in her temples and neck as her irises dangerously flashed.

“I have _had it_ with you,” was the snarl, arms trembling. “I offer you choices, none of which ever appeal to you. I went ahead to give you a chance to enjoy yourself to your heart's content, yet you let that _bitch_ tell you otherwise. I made the choice to not kill your friends, hell, I was even going to take up on your offer, and this is how you _repay me!?_ Do you _enjoy_ resisting me, you bastard?! Are you _that_ desperate to die?!”

Mewtwo retained his silence as he finally averted his gaze, covering his face with a shaky hand. Legion let out a harsh huff, oblivious to or ignoring the young Eon dragon as she carted away Manaphy and pushed past the group to the lake behind them. Bringing the whip to eye-level, he glared at its crimson shine and coat of blood still dripping from the ends. With narrowed eyes, the demon glanced back to the huddled clone.

“So be it,” he rasped out. “If I cannot get you to cooperate, I shall get another spirit who is willing to fulfill my work.”

Moving forward, he raised the whip.

*~*~*

The pain wasn't anything new, but it came so quickly, it caught Mew off-guard. She was so engrossed in Mewtwo's growing emotions, when she felt what may have been a sharp object digging into his skin and igniting a searing fire, it was like she temporarily forgot how to scream. After a few more strikes, she was driven to her knees in a whimpering mess. Amber had taken hold of her the moment she showed signs of agony, and the girl tried her best to calm the feline down. But as the beatings progressed, the feline couldn't take it anymore, and cried out as loud as her voice could handle it.

“Make it stop, _make it STOP!_ ” she shrieked through her tears, fingers dangerously gouging into her face as she trembled. 

The child pushed her closer in the hopes to stabilize her thrashing. “Deep breaths, Mew, deep breaths...”

“Oh, God, what is he _doing_ to him?!”

“Mew, please calm yourself down.”

“Amber, I think he's killing him!” She choked on a wail, and she buried her face into the dress. “He's killing him!”

She closed her eyes tightly as she nodded. “He's lost so much blood from earlier... he will in a few minutes if this keeps up.”

Mew snagged her sleeves, shaking her head so hard, she grew dizzy. “No,  _ no _ ! He can't! Amber, don't make him come here, please!”

Placing a comforting hand on her head, she murmured, “It's not up to me to decide between who lives and who dies.”

Her eyes widened as she trembled from another wave of pain. “Wha... b-but I thought...”

Amber shook her head with a sad smile. “I am only an angel. I am not the Judge.”

“But you said... I-I... What was with the mirror, then?!”

“It is used for those who wish to interact with those beyond the Veil they still hold dear to their hearts.” She squeezed the Legendary into a hug, staring at the bloody gashes that were opening on Mew's back. “Even if they have been forgotten...”

The Legendary opened her mouth to speak out again only to have another scream escape her. She covered her face, then pulled her hand away to stare horrifically at the fresh blood running down her palm. Amber sternly grasped her small paws, locking eyes with her.

“Mew, I want you to break your right wrist.”

She gasped. “You want me to  _ what?! _ ”

“It will only be for a few minutes. Trust me.” Then she let her go.

Mew gaped at the girl, her flinches and pains steadily becoming less and less conspicuous. As much as she didn't wish to believe her, her heart couldn't deny what she said. She thought of the mirror, and the bonding she shared with Mewtwo, which in turn took her back to a memory from not too long ago.

“ _...whatever happens to our bodies... happens to us and vice versa... because we take the form of them.”_

Taking a deep, labored breath, she nodded in assurance and tightly gripped her wrist. Biting her lip, she scrunched her eyes shut.

*~*~*

The pleadings of the Legendaries had grown feeble the longer and harder the floggings continued. Helpless behind a newly-created thick barrier, they could only watch through their tears as Mewtwo was mercilessly scourged. Legion had placed all his anger into the whip, yet showed some satisfaction at the spilling of his blood by laughing or licking it off Mew's cheek. The clone's cries of agony had by now been demoralized to gasps as he struggled to remain conscious. His back was littered by shards that had broken off and been hammered into his wounds. 

Giggling insanely, the feline teasingly cracked the whip in the air to shower crystal fragments like confetti over his nearly-motionless body before cutting across his shoulders. “Oh, this is beautiful!” she gasped out. “Of everything I have done in my eternal life, I never had this much fun, nor been this excited! If I was not killing you, Mewtwo, I would have let you and your friends go until after I tire of this memory!”

“Mewtwo, no,” Shaymin moaned out, hiccuping on her sobs.

Mew paused for a quick breather, smirking down at the broken Legendary. “One more should do it,” she murmured, taking in the amount of blood. “Consider this my last kiss good-bye,  _ darling _ .” She raised it above her head as far back as she could go.

There then came a nauseating snap of the bones as her wrist suddenly twisted a one-eighty. She dropped the whip with a startled cry, staring in dismay at her limp paw. Gritting her teeth so her breaths came out as hisses, she shot her head up to look at the astonished crowd, then at Mewtwo. Noticing how brief his breathing was, a frown carved itself onto her lips. Putting aside the concern for her injured hand, she telekinetically raised up his ragged body and dragged him to a tree. Reaching inside the closest spire, she pulled out crystalline rope and tied him to the trunk, the pressure against his wounds causing him to twitch.

After staring down at him for a few moments, she stole a glance at the Legendaries, who were all still too in awe to speak out. She scanned the area around them, as though measuring the perimeter of their enclosed prison, even craned her neck for a glimpse of Manaphy half-submerged by the water's edge, then floated off for the exit without another word. When she disappeared around the bend, they let out the breaths they had held, and quietly wept where they stood.


	16. The Escape

“ _Escape, escape, from this sorrowful fate_

_You are not a flower of Hell_

_In that kind of place, don't bloom there, don't bloom there_

_Don't let them ensnare you”_

_\-- “Naraku no Hana” (translated), Shimamiya Eiko, When Cicadas Cry: Kai_

*~*~*

Under direction of Amber, Mew had to wait it out before she could heal her wrist. She didn't doubt the girl in the very least, but she had growing concerns about Legion's suspicion of it. He was getting on their case, she could feel it in the pit of her core. It had been some time since he left her friends alone, and by then the agonizing vibes grew dull; his refusal to heal it was of arrogance, but him leaving them be was a sign he knew. The belief troubled her as she knelt there, firmly grasping it in place.

Taking a steady breath, she anxiously turned to the young lass. “Amber, I can't thank you enough for your help... but it hurts. It hurts so much, I can barely feel the pain now.” She lightly chuckled, wincing when her fingers twitched. “Can I heal it now?”

She slightly shook her head. “Not just yet...”

“But Legion's onto us,” she protested. “He would have already set it by now.”

Amber's eyes flitted over. “Like he would have allowed your wounds to heal?”

Mew felt a sting press against her heart at the remembrance, and she flashed the cut on her arm in silent agreement. She was unsure why he decided to tear her body apart, whether it was to keep reminding himself it was still alive, or to torment Mewtwo to submission. Under normal circumstances, she would have already been dead from blood loss. If she was to return now in this state, she would only permanently end up back at Amber's side. However, she had been warned about staying longer, implying she was to be judged eventually. It seemed both she and Legion knew it, thus leaving her with no other choice but to die: painfully or quietly.

Amber stepped to her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in comfort. Sharply inhaling, the feline glanced over. “Why me?” she inquired dejectedly. “What is it about me that attracted Legion in the first place? What does getting me pregnant with Mewtwo's child have to do with anything?”

The girl apologetically returned the gaze. “I don't know the details... but as you were the guardian, only you can control the Tree. After all, you are naturally immune to the Tree by contract.”

She frowned. “But wasn't it broken when I became mortal?”

“When it _died,_ ” came the amend.

Mew chewed on her lip nervously. “...does Legion know?”

“This was between you, Arceus, and the Lord. Legion only has so much knowledge about the Tree and you. He may not have known about your contract.”

Hanging her head, a puzzling thought came to mind. She somehow couldn't quite remember most of the day she became the guardian. She knew of Arceus' approach and request, her accepting it sincerely before they entered the Tree... the rest was strangely blank. But she felt was there being more to it than just saying “yes”, like an agreement had to be made.

Glancing back up at her, she asked, “Amber, can you please tell me how I made this 'contract'? It's been so long... I'm sure if I ponder on it long enough I'll remember, but can you tell me anyway?”

The young miss smiled. “I'm sorry to say the contract is a rather sacred event when it comes to the Tree, that if you don't keep it you'll forget it. But you're right, eventually you'll remember... in a good few centuries here.” She slightly giggled when Mew's ears drooped, then added, “ _However,_ you got me here to tell you! So, what is it you want to know about the contract?”

“Um... pretty much _how_ I made the contract with the Tree.”

Amber's smile grew. “There are only a couple of things you had to transfer to the Tree in order to become one with it: blood and aura. Both of these have to come into contact with the Heart for it to register, and because it's so sensitive, usually all that's required are just a drop of each. But those small drops are what taps you into its life force through crystals, and makes you the master control.”

Glancing down at her palms, the Legendary felt a lump stick in her throat. “So then... how did Legion do it exactly?”

“By forming the Heart with bare hands—your hands. This in turn introduced the blood and aura into its system.”

Mew felt herself grow pale. “So then... he can control the Tree?”

“He can...” The girl gently grasped her small paws. “However, that means he can also lose control of it. What he doesn't realize is that upon reviving the Tree, both his and your aura were used, more or less.”

She perked up, still frightened at the facts. “But what does this have to do with anything?”

Amber tilted her head. “Oh? You don't know?” She giggled, confusing Mew even further. “Your aura has a mixture of Pokémon _and_ human aura. And of course, human aura can kill the Tree if there's enough of it.”

She scarcely heard the last sentence when her heart skipped a beat. Deep down, she had _a_ feeling something had gone wrong the last time she was in the Tree, but she had forgotten about it since. Though she had an answer at last, Mew still found herself surprised by the confirmation.

Gaping at the girl, who was stifling her laughs, she mouthed for a few moments before finally breathing out, “ _..._ I-I got... _human_ aura in me?”

“You've had it for a while, about a good—mmm—few months now.”

Shaking her head, she flinched upon loosening the grip on her injury. She had to take a few breaths before speaking up, “Why haven't I noticed this?”

Steadying her, Amber responded, “There was no way you could have known without the Tree. But as you didn't know, maybe you _aren't_ as linked to it as you used to be.” She shrugged. “Maybe.”

Mew just caught herself from letting loose a frightened whimper. “I-Is this a good thing? I mean... is the Tree going to reject me—my body?”

“Not exactly. It's feeding right now.”

“But I thought human aura is forbidden in the Tree!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands about. Hissing and tensing in pain, she squeezed her wrist once again.

The girl sadly hung her head, taking back the Legendary's paws. “It is... it was never meant to hold humans. While it feeds on both humans and Pokémon alike, human aura cannot be used to control the Tree, or it goes berserk. However, it is used instead in emergencies... at the cost of a life.” She slightly paused when Mew winced. “You are thankful enough to have only done this twice... the third time you tried, you did not have enough human aura to help balance out its gorging. When it backfired, you absorbed it, and you've had it since. So now, running through the Tree's veins are three types of aura: yours, Legion's—a demon, and man's. None of them can mix in a good way, so it's impure.”

Amber suddenly trailed off, avoiding the feline's gaze. Mew immediately grew worried, taking her silence as not a good sign. As much as she didn't want to hear anything about it anymore, her anxiety got the best of her. She leaned in, shaking her hands to get her to continue. When the lass drew in a slow breath, Mew felt her heart sink.

“The Tree's sick, and is slowly growing out of control,” she sighed in a melancholic tone. “He's using his minions _and_ those of Pokémon to fuel it, but there is not enough of your pure aura to neutralize it. It's only a matter of time before the Tree begins to kill. Your friends are going to die.” She glimpsed over at the wide-eyed stare of her companion. “ _You_ will die.”

Mew had not thought about the consequences despite knowing them, but she didn't know of its current condition either. It was hard for it to sink in because of how horrific it was. Inside her was a catalyst as a result of a backfire, the very essence the Tree made sure with all its might to rid itself of except when needed. Then upon recreating it, Legion unintentionally poisoned the Tree, thus sealing their deaths. She didn't know what to say, at how to express herself.

The girl watched as the feline's expression intensified into a mixture of anger and sadness. Her body was trembling from the emotion, her fingers digging into her palms, which she allowed her to do. She just hung her head in apology, briefly looking away. “However... there is some good news...”

“How can there be?!” Mew gave the sudden scream that made her flinch. Her claws sunk into her skin when she clutched harder. “You told me yourself we're going to _die_! How can there be any good that'll come from this?! The Tree's gone berserk, and there is no way I can neutralize it like this!”

Amber inhaled deeply. “Another defuser—or neutralizer—is available that will at the very least counteract the aura and make it useless.”

The Legendary gasped a little when her heart fluttered. “There is? What is it?” she urged quickly. “Do we still have hope?”

The child managed a giggle, loosening the tension up. “It's not a what, but a whom.”

Mew scowled a little, her ears drooping in slight disappointment. “'Whom',” she repeated blankly, then shook her head. “ _Whom_ _else_ besides me can heal the Tree? None of the other Legendaries have that power, let alone know _how_ it works.”

“Don't worry, you'll help him, but all it takes is just touching the Heart, really.” Laughing again, she continued, “And besides, since the Tree identified Mewtwo as a contributor, there should be no way he wouldn't know how to work it at all. And also because he has human aura as well.”

The feline opened her mouth to protest, only to freeze and review the statement. It sounded impossible, there had to be no way Mewtwo was linked to the Tree. She would have known by now if he was. She wanted to clarify it first, though all she could manage out were scattered mumbles.

“...what? Mewtwo? But how can he... how... _what?_ ”

Amber's smile grew a little bigger when some excitement came into her voice. “You can say it's in his blood, which is in the Tree as well. Normally he'd be kicked out by now, but as the Tree consumed human aura, it's more acceptable.”

“W-Well yeah, but... how'd he get the human aura? I don't think he's ever studied how to control aura. And you know Mewtwo has never _liked_ humans.”

“I know, but his is natural, in an odd way.” She leaned in with a curious look. “Did he ever tell you about his origins? I take it he knows it, there were records that weren't yet destroyed.”

When Mew shrugged and shook her head, her eyes closed as she let out a slow breath. “The fossil they used to create Mewtwo was missing some parts in its DNA due to age. To fill in the gaps and continue with the experiment, the scientists had no choice but to substitute the blank spaces with other DNA. They tried quite a good many strands, but they were all rejected for reasons unknown. Out of desperation and time, they went ahead and used human DNA knowing the consequences if they failed. It surprisingly worked, but given the age of the fossil, I don't doubt it was from a time when they were still revered by humans. Lots of Mew in that time of age came into contact with humans a lot, so it's possible some DNA was on the fossil.” Amber just shrugged. “I don't know whose DNA they used, but I probably have a good idea...”

She slightly trailed off with a sad smile. “...Papa was proud of Mewtwo... if Mewtwo was a human to begin with, he could have been my baby brother, maybe.” Her eyes suddenly widened, a hand shooting up to her mouth in surprise. Looking back up at her confused companion, she let out a giggle. “I'm sorry. I got side-tracked there.”

Mew just shook her head in assurance. “No, it's okay, it explains a lot, actually... and that he was right after all.” She wiped at an eye the moment she felt the sting of a tear. “Now I know why I could never have invited Mewtwo over for long periods of time. The Tree recognized the human in him and had to get rid of him. But because he's still a Pokémon, it just spat him back outside.” She chewed on her bottom lip, staring at their clasped hands. She twitched one of them out of curiosity to see if the wrist was still broken. Shivering under the small wave of pain, she glanced back up at the girl when a familiar question came to mind. “Um, Amber... how do you know Mewtwo? And not because you're a spirit, I meant _personally_.”

Amber's smile slowly grew, her eyes brightening up. “Because I was there from the beginning,” she replied in a whisper. When the Legendary's brow rose skeptically, she explained further, “I kept him company, a few others and I did, and I taught him about the world. I showed him how to count, where I lived, what the sun, moon and stars looked like. I taught him all I knew as a four-year-old. And then... he stopped smiling...”

Her gaze had steadily averted to the floor, transitioning into a serene daze. It retained its dreamy look when she glanced back up, her grip tightening. “Mew, thank you for keeping Mewtwo company. As physical as I am, I couldn't be there for him. But I could watch over him, sometimes even read his heart.” Her smile became lovely and heart-wrenching. “He's grateful for you taking the time to look past his flaws and see who he really is. He thinks you're the first, but you are actually the second one who knows him.”

Mew could take the information all in, but she had to step back from it for a quick review. She found it unbelievable that she had expressed her knowledge of Mewtwo since she manifested herself. It was strangely intimate for a child whom she had never before seen nor heard of, it was possible she knew more about him than Mewtwo did himself. Only one answer came to her that was plausible enough for her statements to be true.

Staring into the girl's eyes, she quietly inquired, “Are you his guardian angel?”

A sudden laugh escaped from Amber. “Yes, I am! I couldn't believe it myself when I was given the position. I guess it's because I'm the closest to family he's got, but he doesn't know it. He hasn't since before he was born...” She quickly shook her head to get unwanted thoughts out and swung their clasped hands joyfully. “That's why I'm excited for you two. It makes me sad to see Mewtwo lonely. Even if I had lived to die as an old granny, I'd still be sad. I'm so grateful to be here with you, the wife of my best friend.”

She was tempted to correct her, but left it be, not wanting to argue with her again about the difference between “life-mate” and “marriage”. Glancing down at their hands, she cautiously pulled the inflicted one away only to find it had healed. Her eyes slowly widened as she twisted and rolled her wrist around in awe, unsure what to say.

After a few moments of silence and exercising her paw, Mew turned back to Amber when a random thought popped into her mind. “Amber... forgive me for asking you this, but... how did you die?”

“Depends on which life you're talking about.”

She blinked. “Uh... what?”

Amber gave a lop-sided grin. “Well, I _technically_ had two lives—sort-of. Actually, more of a revival... It's complicated.” She entwined her hands behind her back with a giggle.

Mew tilted her head, still confused, but already intrigued. “Can you tell me anyway?”

The girl winked. “I'll tell you here soon. But for now, let's get you ready to go back home.” She pulled the Legendary with her when she stood up, swinging their arms around. Her voice then dropped to a whisper. “You are needed desperately now. I can't hold you back any longer.”

_Home..._

It made her heart ache, torn between wanting to go back and staying with the little angel. She knew she could only have one decision, and it was an important one. Selfishness wasn't an option, it didn't exist here. As homesick as she was and wanted to be back with Mewtwo and her friends, she was growing fond of Amber and the peace she held. However, on the other side, her loved ones were hurting, even possibly dying. It was the fate she didn't want to wish upon them. Even if they died and joined her, there was always the chance they'd be separated, and Arceus would show great displeasure at their failure to uphold their promise. Happiness didn't seem to exist either way. But she trusted Amber in that there was hope. That hope, however, couldn't happen unless she went back.

Mew felt tears sting her eyes, only to quickly blink them away and nod at the young lass, who returned the gesture before dipping her chin in. “Mew, are you confident about this? You still do have agency here. You can choose what to do, but you'll have to face the consequences... and they may not be pretty.”

The feline took a long, slow breath. “I'm willing to go back. Whatever happens, happens. There's nothing I can do about it... now that I know what death holds for me.”

Clasping her paws with a smile, Amber led the way toward the Veil.

*~*~*

They didn't know how long they remained in the field for after Mew had left them. The Pokémon that didn't leave had found it was safe to go about their business, avoiding the Legendaries for the most part. The only exception was Mewtwo, who remained bound against the tree despite all the nudging and light tugging of the ropes that were done. He was still fairly weak, and though he had gained awareness, he refused to move or acknowledge them, preferring to stare blankly at the crystal spire next to him. His peers kept a close surveillance from behind their prison.

There hadn't been any signs that the barrier was letting up, nor that there were openings high above or underwater; not even Darkrai and Giratina could find a way to slip through it. It was slowly heating up in the enclosed space from the many bodies, though Shaymin informed the temperature would drop when the evening came. (She even told them to keep their mouths shut in the off-chance it was air-tight.) Their concern, for the time being, had been focusing on Manaphy's condition.

The Sea Prince was getting his strength back, his wounds having healed to the best of Mesprit's and Jirachi's abilities and from being in the water. He had by now lost the will to cry, and at the moment chose to sit in Latias' lap and stare out into the open field. Though they worried about his emotional and mental status, the Legendaries found solace at knowing he wasn't by Death's door anymore.

The little peace there was ended when Deoxys loudly sighed. “ _God, it's dull around here. When's Mew coming back?_ ”

Many in the group turned to glare at the alien. Celebi, whose arm was in a make-shift sling from what little Mesprit could use, slowly shook his head. Without looking away from the lake, he murmured, “That was not Mew... Whatever has her in its possession has had her for some time.” He raised his uninjured hand to rub his cheek. “Did it ever say its name? It gave us a title, but as for the name, I can't recall it...” He ducked his head for a few moments, pinching his brow. “Ah. Mewtwo kept addressing her as 'Legion'.”

“So much for protection and guidance,” Giratina huffed. “But the name's rather familiar. Hey, Latios,” he grunted to the side, “know the name?”

The Eon Dragon solemnly glanced up at the Renegade Legendary. “Why are you asking me?” he calmly pointed out. “How am I supposed to know?”

He shrugged his wings with a sneer. “Sheesh, sorry I even asked. But honestly, anyone feel the name is familiar or something, or am I imaging it?”

“Just your imagination,” Palkia grumbled under his breath, then scrunched his face in thought. “That sucked... Ah, forget it, I can't think of anything witty.”

Dialga briefly rolled his eyes. “You could have said 'your mom' and it would have sucked.”

“Shut up, I'm just not in the joking mood at the moment.”

Jirachi raised his head up a little to raise a brow questionably at the two giants, then sighed. “No, I just have only heard the name before. Actually, more like a word. It's a word, isn't it?”

“It's used when describing a large crowd of people like an army,” Darkrai defined, arms folded. “Usually a few thousand or so.”

“I'm not asking for the definition, genius,” Giratina snorted out. “It's a _name_ , isn't it?”

More silence fell on the group as they shifted in their seats, some pursing their lips in thought. Then Shaymin gave a recitation, though she had been so quiet the whole time, a few did double-takes when she did. “'For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion; for we are many.'” She didn't bother meeting anyone else's gazes, sorrowfully casting her eyes instead at Mewtwo. “Whether it was a literal name or not, that man who was 'saying' it really meant it... there were many demons in him.”

Latias hoisted herself and Manaphy straighter as she fearfully turned to her brother. “Does that mean Mew has thousands of demons in her?”

“Well then, how about we go grant them that wish to go into a herd of some swine?”

Latios suddenly shot up and leered over at Giratina. “I have had it with you!” he snarled. “What is your problem that you have to mock us?”

He quickly defended himself. “I'm not mocking, I'm giving out suggestions!”

“To hell with your suggestion, the point is, you have been cracking inappropriate jokes to serious problems! It's because I have read my caretaker's bible, isn't it? So that _must_ make me an expert!”

“I never said you were an expert!”

Latios gave a harsh, mocking laugh, sending shivers down everyone's spines. “Oh really? Ever since the world ended, you wouldn't shut up about it! If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were interested, but I do know better! You know it quite well, and because you do, you chose to rebel, am I right?” He then gave a sharp smirk. “But I suppose that has been the norm to you, hasn't it?”

His sister released Manaphy to pull on his arm. “Latios, no! He doesn't mean it!” She gave a small squeak when he jerked away from her, then whirled around to stand before him. “Latios, please! Just let it go!”

“Listen to your sister, for Christ's sake!” the ghostly dragon exclaimed out, gesturing to the trembling female. “She has a point here!”

“ _Yeah, and you're wasting all our air!_ ” Deoxys blurted out with a snicker. Cresselia and Rayquaza slapped him upside the head while others shot him warning glances, making him wince further.

Shaking her head, Latias tightly hugged him, gazing tearfully up at his darkened face. “Latios, please, I don't want another fight!” she wailed. “I'm tired of all the negativity in the group! I-I know we have been getting along the last few months or so, b-but there are still these fights, and I hate it! If we had not been fighting to begin with, we wouldn't be here! Mew wouldn't have had all those nightmares, and she and Mewtwo would be happy together! And _we_ would all be happy together!” Sobbing, she buried her face into his chest. “I thought... I thought we were doing what Ho-oh and Arceus told us to do...” Digging her claws into his shoulders, she pulled away, tears streaming from her wide eyes. “I don't want to fail! I don't want to die!”

Latios sneered down at his sibling, slowly loosening up when he recalled the many arguments and battles the Legendaries had partaken in, and in remembering the civilians of Alto Mare. He treasured the days from when it was a peaceful city, where Latias could roam free without fear. It was when she was mugged that something inside him had snapped. He couldn't remember what happened next, all he knew was it took him most of the night to wash the blood and dirt off. It took a good few years before she stopped being afraid of him, but the deed had been done. He had little power to keep her innocence from being corrupted.

Glancing up at Giratina, he wrapped his arms around her and led her to the water's edge for a seat. The renegade turned his back on him, folding his wings and hanging his head. The group held their silence, feeling an uncomfortable burden on their shoulders. They stole sheepish looks from one another, unsure what else to say.

Shortly afterward, Entei began sniffing and blubbering, large tears rolling down his face. Raikou raised a brow at him, inching away at the sight. “Erm... is something wrong, Entei?” he inquired.

The volcanic beast suddenly bawled, scaring the others from their solemn state. “I agree with her that we shouldn't fight, but... Oh, God, I couldn't hold it anymore! I'm sorry, guys, forgive me! Please don't yell at me!”

“What are you blabbing on abo—” Suicune grunted out, but then was cut off when she felt her paws being soaked. She and a few others looked down, barely catching themselves from screaming in disgust. Her brother just sat there in his urine, trembling in sobs. After sucking in sporadic breaths, she finally let out a cry of repulsion and bounded into the water. More followed suit until they were pushed up against the barrier, glaring at Entei.

The ones lucky enough to levitate or avoid the mess ended up laughing until the smell made them gag. After a few more complaints, the poor beast wailed, “Stop yelling at me, it's not my fault! I couldn't hold it any longer!”

Zapdos made choking noises and pounded almost frantically against the barrier. “Need! Fresh! Air!” He then paused in the middle of gasping, and stared quizzically at the psychic wall. He scanned the surface and banged the obstacle again, picking up reverberating twangs. “Hey, guys, check this out!”

Moltres scowled, watching him rhythmically beat the barrier. “Are you just _that_ bored you have to entertain yourself?” she scoffed.

“You're not even listening!” He smacked it a few more times, a grin appearing on his beak. “You hear that? It's not as solid as it was. If we hit it enough, we can break through!”

The firebird knocked on it herself, and she blinked, repeating it a couple of times. “Well douse my flames and call me a bald Torchic. Zaps, you're right for once!”

Out of surprise, the Legendaries came forward to test it out, excited murmurs flaring up in the crowd. Darkrai crossed his arms after a few taps. “It's a good sign. If we wait it out, it'll be depleted before we know it.”

“To hell with your plan, let's smash it!” Cackling earnestly, Rayquaza headbutted the wall only to curse loudly.

“That's using your noodle,” Groudon chortled.

The dragon sneered at him, and without warning, smacked his head with his tail, sending him crashing into the barrier. A harsh vibration grated through the surface, forcing the Legendaries to cower in pain (though some verbally expressed it). When it gave out, they glanced up in awe to see a long, distorting crack. The sight of it dumbfounded them, but also brought hopeful smiles to their faces.

“Now _that's_ using your noodle,” smirked Rayquaza. “But admit it, I thinned it out for you.”

The snide comment was promptly ignored when everyone else excitedly looked at one another. Quickly, they bombarded the barrier on all sides with special attacks (though the larger entities slammed their bodies against it), giving their all. The cracking was inspiring and beautiful, bringing about joyful cries and laughs to accompany it on the spot. It was loud, crowded, and hot, but they didn't let it bother them as their minds rejoiced at growing closer to freedom. Within minutes, they slowed to catch their breaths, happily marveling their work. They looked at one another with breathy chuckles, and slow nods, some fighting back tears. Bracing themselves, they let out spirited shouts and rushed forward at the webbed barrier. The impact shattered it to oblivion as they tumbled to the grass.

The surrounding Pokémon had dropped whatever they were doing to watch the Legendaries beat against their prison walls. When they broke through, they squealed out of surprise and ran for cover, but they went unheeded as the escapees expressed their mirth with cheers, dances, and tight hugs all around. There was a sense of victory present, of a battle won. It was a moment where they forgot their predicaments to congratulate one another.

It was only when Mesprit looked back to see Mewtwo seemingly unaware of their escape did the mood darken up. Pulling away from the group to rush to his side, she touched his shoulder. “Mewtwo, are you still with us?” she gasped out in worry. “Are you doing all right?”

There was a long moment before he closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath. She loosened up a little, still near to tears. Celebi floated up to her, sadly gazing at the wounds on the clone's thin form. The happy occasion now ended, everyone advanced solemnly to see the damage for themselves. They gaped at the blood caked on his fur and the small streams still freshly running down. Manaphy stumbled forward, fighting back a sob as he grasped a paw and held it close. Mewtwo didn't even flinch.

Darkrai hesitantly stepped before the unresponsive psycat and reached out to lay a hand on his forehead. Almost immediately, he drew back to drag Cresselia in his place, pressing her paw to the same spot. She shivered just as quickly.

“H-He's... fallen ill,” she murmured shakily. “I don't know if it's blood loss or shock... but he's gone through so much, I'm so surprised he hasn't...” Her counterpart released her so she could pull back. “He needs medical attention.”

“Or a body,” Giratina gave his insight. Some of his peers glanced over with confused looks. He then awkwardly corrected himself, “A familiar touch, is what I meant. We don't know what has been going on the past few days, however, if we take his words to Mew—or this Legion—into concept, his heart's breaking under pressure. You can't blame him for it. You'd go mad yourself if your loved one wasn't themselves for some time, wouldn't you agree?”

The swan found herself looking over at the phantom, frowning. “You have a point there... but unfortunately, Mew is inaccessible, and those of us with healing gifts are still weak. We are to resort to herbs for his health for the time-being.” She turned to spot an Omanyte peeking out from behind a bush nearby. It jumped when they made eye-contact. “Please don't be alarmed,” she cooed, clasping her paws together. “Tell us, are there any medicinal herbs here? Our friend here is very sick.”

The Pokémon took one look at Mewtwo before it squealed and scurried off for the lake.

The group stared in bafflement after it for a few moments until Deoxys broke the silence, scoffing and crossing his arms. “ _Nice going, Cress._ ”

Shaking her head at him, Cresselia turned her attention back to Mewtwo. Frowning at the crystalline ropes, she reached out to pull them off only to back off when he gave a sharp hiss of pain. “Jirachi, Mesprit, how confident are you two?”

The Wish Maker bowed his head. “I personally won't guarantee a good recovery,” he sighed out in melancholy. “He's been in such critical condition for so long—not to mention he's several times our size—we may end up neglectful.”

“We'll do our best, Cress,” Mesprit spoke up almost hurriedly, giving an assuring smile. “If the two of us work together, we may at least be able to get him to his feet.” She shot an aside look to Jirachi. “Let's untie him.”

They were stupefied at the complexity, thickness, and hardness of the ropes. Instead of being tied on, it looked like Mewtwo was lassoed to the tree. The group stared at the crystal it was attached to, glancing over at each other worriedly.

“We have to destroy it, don't we?” Articuno murmured, folding her wings.

“It shouldn't be an option,” Dialga said in bewilderment. “These are linked to the life force of the Tree. There's no telling what'll happen if we kill a crystal.”

His rival raised an eye ridge at him. “'Kill a crystal',” he repeated blankly.

“You know what I mean! This is work of aura, I thought you knew that!”

“So you're suggesting that if one of these crystals are destroyed, it may lead to potential death?”

“To the Tree!”

Deoxys guffawed. “ _That's the dumbest theory I've heard. Okay, yeah, the aura part I can get, but just getting rid of one—count it,_ _ **one**_ _—flippin' spire spells disaster for this humongous thing._ ”

Darkrai stepped in. “Dialga does have a point. Aura keeps this Tree alive. If not done correctly, we _can_ kill the Tree.”

“ _But who the hell knows how to use aura here? Isn't Mew the Tree's guardian?_ ”

“Anyone can use aura, Deoxys,” Rayquaza scoffed.

“ _Then_ _ **you**_ _show us how it's done, smartypants!_ ”

Rolling his eyes with a groan, Heatran pushed by the alien to pause at the spire. With a side glance at the group, he dashed his skull into the side, chipping off an ample piece. The crystal flickered rapidly, turning to a tranquil color of green for a short moment before the glow faded. After a quick study, the Lava Dome Pokémon bit a chunk off, chewed savoringly and swallowed it. With a huff, he raised a foot and stamped it to dust before spitting on it.

“You're welcome,” he gruffly grunted, stomping back to his place.

The Legendaries remained rooted where they stood, gaping at the pile with incredulous looks, some blinking stupidly at what they had witnessed. Giratina glanced down at Heatran, mouthing for a few moments before blurting out, “What the hell was _that_?! Was that it?! No fiery explosions or pieces flying everywhere?!”

Leaning away from the renegade, Deoxys nodded in swift agreement. “ _Yeah... what he said._ ” He then noticed a sinister glint from off to the side, and looked over. He exclaimed in surprise at the abandoned whip. “ _Oh God, it's still hideous! Heatran, do something!_ ”

Everyone looked over and froze upon seeing the bloodied weapon not far off from where they stood. A nauseous few turned away, trying to get the horrid memory out of their heads. It was only after Dialga got the courage to push himself forward and stomp it to pieces did the tension loosen up. After kicking them around, the time guardian returned to the others, twitching and shuffling his feet around in the grass.

Shaking her head around to snap out of her state, Mesprit snatched Jirachi's hand to drag him over to Mewtwo, only to pause before the clone. Though it was his first major movement, it wasn't what they were expecting from him. He was curling up against the trunk, clutching his stomach and staring feverishly at the ground, cold sweat beginning to develop on his brow. He raised a shaky hand to his mouth, breathing heavily and swallowing in between.

With a gasp stuck in her throat, the fairy rushed over to hold him steady, wincing at the intense body heat. “Mewtwo, you need to calm yourself down. Stabilize your breathing.”

Cresselia spun around for the lakeside, reaching in to pull out a couple of thick weeds before hurrying over. She pressed them to his forehead, cursing softly at their short length. “Mesprit, Jirachi, clean those wounds, they may be getting infected.” When they jumped into action, she looked over her shoulder at the group. “Are there any herbs around here?”

A few cast their eyes about in response while others shrugged. Manaphy scurried for the lake, exclaiming out “I'll check for salveyo weed!” before diving in.

The swan scowled. “Latias!” she snapped out, startling the female. “You know the Tree well! Are there any herbs around here?”

She panicked a little, darting around nervously. “U-Uh, um... This is a huge field... I don't know which one we're in. They're somewhere, but I don't think they're in this specific field.”

“Damn it,” she hissed. “You bums go help her look!” she shot an order at the Legendaries.

Suddenly, Mewtwo lurched forward in a coughing fit, and she looked down to see blood drip from between his fingers. Her eyes widened in fright, unable to bring herself to gasp upon backing away. Mesprit and Jirachi paused for a look themselves, their faces immediately paling. When he was reduced to shivers, the clone slowly pulled his hand away to allow the dark liquid to dribble out of his mouth.

The Legendaries gaped in disgust at the growing puddle, a few turning away when they gagged. “Good Lord, Cresselia, what did you do to him?” Groudon grunted, wincing when his stomach churned.

“It's not her fault,” Shaymin whispered, swallowing her nausea down. “He's just sick is all...”

Mesprit glanced over at the hedgehog. “That's half-true,” she corrected quietly. “He's not really sick, is he?”

Everyone glanced down at the tiny female where she shivered under their gazes. “W-Well... something—something tells me he's connected to the Tree in some way.”

“What do you mean by 'connected'?” Jirachi inquired. “Is it similar to Mew's relationship with the Tree?”

Shaymin bowed her head a little. “In a way...” Lifting her eyes up to Mewtwo, whose stare never wavered from the ground, she cautiously approached him. “Mewtwo, I'm going to need your attention for a couple of minutes. Can you tell us what exactly happened here? Are you one with the Tree?”

Not a moment later did he tremble, his breaths quickening as he clutched at his face. For a brief moment when their visions crossed, she saw tears wavering in his eyes. Though he didn't respond, his actions of fright were enough evidence he was aware of them, almost like her question, or their presence in general was triggering an unwanted memory. She averted her gaze to the dark puddle with a grimace, then tilted her head sadly back to the group.

“I think he can heal physically, but we're going to lose him mentally if we don't find some medicine. Or at least some... substitutes.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a painful moment. “Is there really anything we can use until then?”

The Legendaries remained quiet, shifting weight awkwardly and pretending to find interest in a tree, Pokémon, or the light. Cresselia had been steadily shrinking back for the group, while Mesprit and Jirachi fell back on the healing. Celebi, after he waited for any of his peers to speak up, cleared his throat. “I may know of an item.”

A few perked their heads up. “Where is it?” Shaymin asked, sensing a hint of hope.

“It's just within teleportation range. I'll be back in no more than thirty seconds.”

“Celebi, you're in no condition to go anywhere!” the fairy scolded, flying up to him. “Let someone else go get it.”

“I'll be fine. It's not like every time I teleport, I leave a body part behind.” He gestured to his broken arm. “This is nothing.” With a small wink, he disappeared just as quickly.

She flustered for a moment, crossed her arms with a huff, and silently counted in her head. Some of the Legendaries stole a glance with each other, brows raised, but not a word was said. Their silence attracted the native Pokémon, all of whom were hiding peeked out, or those that had stood around cautiously approached closer. The group didn't seem to notice, though a few stole a glance at Manaphy when he solemnly stepped forth from the lake.

None of them were too surprised when Celebi flashed back in, albeit he was a little dizzy, a small frown on his face. Mesprit glowered at him, eying his arm. “Twenty-four seconds,” she announced. “How's your arm?”

The pixie looked over at her with an annoyed expression, then reached out, flipped over one of her hands, and dropped a sleek item into her palm. Her eyes widened, and a quiet “Oh, my word” escaped her lips.

Some of the Legendaries leaned forward in interest. “Hey, Cel, what'd you find?” Dialga wondered, tilting his head.

Steadying her now-shaking hand, Mesprit brought the item to the light. Everyone gaped at the small corked vial, clear liquid briefly sloshing inside its containment. Shaymin gasped. “Goodness gracious! Celebi, where did you...?”

Deoxys piped up before the pixie could utter a word. “ _There is only one explanation for this. In some form of weird, scientific way, he went back in time to get it. Because if I know my evaporation correctly, there is no way that water should still be in there._ ” He paused for a split-second. “ _Or at least that sparkling clean, anyway._ ”

Everyone gawked at him for a few moments before a few burst out laughing. “You're such a dolt!” Rayquaza guffawed in between breaths.

“Actually, Deoxys isn't too far off!” Manaphy spoke up above their voices. The laughing Legendaries slowed to a halt, peering down at the young Prince. His tone lowered when everything was quiet. “He's right that the water shouldn't be in there, but it's been closed off.” He plodded over to Mesprit, gesturing her to lower her arm for a better look. He took one good look before nodding. “Everything's balanced out in there. The water really has no where to go when it evaporates, but it leaves water vapor and fills it back up.” He grinned up at them.

Everyone stared down at Manaphy, brows raised and faces smoothed out in a dumbfounded look. Eventually, Deoxys waved it off. “ _Y-Y-Yeah, I knew that. I was hoping someone would get it._ ”

Shaymin patted the Seafaring Legendary on the head, then returned her attention to Celebi. “Anyway, where did you get it, Celebi? Or better worded, where _was_ it all this time?”

He carefully hoisted up his bandaged arm, soberly hanging his head. “Remember all of those items we had collected after the world-wide disaster?” Some nodded their heads immediately. “I had gone ahead to place them in the Ilex Shrine, that was thankfully still up. Well, when I was there, a peculiar thought came to mind about how precious this vial is. It is the purest water in the world, with miraculous healing capacities. So I took it to Arborville. There is a shrine there as well, untouched for these many years. No one but the inhabitants of Arborville and I, and I suppose Suicune, know where it is, and the climate there is in perfect condition. Well, as it turns out, that had to be the best decision I made.” He frowned, letting out a sigh. “I just came back from the Ilex Shrine. It's... it's been demolished for some time. I took a look through it, and I discovered there are maybe one or two items missing.”

Mesprit gave him a worried look. “Did it look like an earthquake hit it?”

He shook his head. “This was deliberately searched through. Someone was really looking for something.”

“It wasn't me!” Entei hurriedly exclaimed, raising his front paws. His sister rolled her eyes.

Celebi raised a brow. “None of you knew I had gone to the Ilex Forest, am I right? And even _if_ you came across the forest and the items, you wouldn't have done anything.”

“We know it means a lot to you,” Articuno stated, her siblings nodding in agreement. “We wouldn't dare to touch it.”

Darkrai crossed his arms tightly. “This is rather suspicious, if you ask me,” he muttered. “Only a disrespectful punk would do such a thing. What items were taken, do you know?”

The pixie shrugged a little. “Honestly, it's been a while. I only remembered the water because of how prominent that thought was.” He then turned to Mewtwo, who had barely moved from where he knelt. Gently plucking the vial out of Mesprit's grasp, he pinched the cork tightly as he fluttered over. He lowered himself down to his likely peripheral vision, holding out the water.

“Mewtwo, I know you can hear me,” he quietly started. “You are the only one who knows what has been going on. We'll need your cooperation for this. This is a long-shot, Mewtwo, but drink this. It'll heal your body at the very least.” He popped the cork off.

The clone flinched, his eyes widening as he slowly glanced over at the vial. Celebi wasn't sure whether to hold his breath or not, though he did keep a tight grip and up his guard in the off-chance he was to be lashed at. Mewtwo refused to look away from it when the pixie cautiously inched forward, the Legendaries beginning to be unnerved by his stare. The moment the glass reached his lips, he shook his head, and gave a quiet, simple remark:

“No.”

Celebi's antennae twitched, pleased he was still responsive, but was disappointed. “Mewtwo, it's for your own good.”

He repeated his reply. “No.”

Turning to the others, he gave a hesitant shrug. Most of the group relaxed, while the others groaned. “Take the damn water!” Groudon hollered in frustration. “It's not poisonous, we already went through it!”

Celebi gave him a wary “You're not helping” look before resuming what he was doing. “Mewtwo, please don't be stubborn with us. We want to save Mew as much as you do, but we can't do anything if you don't get better.”

Mewtwo's eyes had brightened up when she was mentioned. “Mew... yes...” With a shaky breath, he reached out an equally-trembling hand to take it from him, holding it up to the light. “This... this is for Mew.”

Mesprit levitated up to his side. “Mewtwo, that's thoughtful of you to think of her, but this is for _you,_ ” she pointed out anxiously. “We need you to get better.”

He seemed to have hardly heard her, having re-corked the bottle and was now twisting it in his fingers, muttering to himself. “Mew is not well... Mew has lost too much blood... she is going to die...” He clumsily pushed himself to his feet, flailing around for his balance. The two held him in place, the fairy swallowing down her sobs at how pitiful he looked. He still held his gaze to the vial like in captivation. “This... this will heal her. This will bring her back...”

Cresselia swooped in to bump into his side. “Mewtwo, you are in critical condition!” she huffed out. “Mesprit and Jirachi did their best to heal you. I know of no other herbs here, and this is the legendary Clarity Lake, said to have healing powers! If I recall correctly, Mewtwo, _you_ brought it to our attention. If anything, _you_ should have it!”

He broke the gaze to glance down at her, wincing in pain. “No... Mew is in worse condition... Legion...” He swayed dangerously to the side before the swan straightened him back up. He moaned a little, shaking his head. “Oh, Legion... he has been destroying her... Her wounds have to close... or sh-she will die.” He rocked again in place, nearly falling forward.

Celebi caught him, though not without a struggle. “Oomph...! Mewtwo, bless your heart for thinking of her... but you can hardly move around without some assistance—ack! Heavy... you're heavy...”

Darkrai rushed over, giving Mesprit the moment to move him out of harm's way, quickly inspecting his arm. The phantom wrapped one of Mewtwo's arms around his shoulders to hold him up. “Cress, what's your estimation on his recovery?”

She sadly shook her head, nudging the clone's side when he slumped. “He's so weak, he should be dead now... at least that's what I'm estimating.” Some of the Legendaries hung their head in solemn agreement.

Chewing on his lip, the ghoul looked up at the clone, who had gone back to gazing at the vial, hints of tears in his eyes. “Well... whatever the case, we need to get him out of here. I fear he's growing mad.”

Entei sat on his haunches with a frown. “You kidding me? He looks sad to me.”

“Entei, either just listen or keep your mouth shut,” Suicune grumbled, lightly smacking his muzzle. “He meant the _other_ mad.”

It took a moment for him to get it. “Ohhh, I see. That's makes a lot more sense now.” Then his face faltered. “Is that a good thing?”

“For the love of—”

“Suicune, if you're going to murmur over there, why don't you carry Mewtwo?” Darkrai called over.

She did a double-take. “You want me to _what?_ ”

“When he starts getting heavy, you can pass him on to someone else,” he added, casting a side glance at Cresselia, who narrowed her eyes unhappily.

Her brothers gladly prodded her over with a grin. Sending them death glares, she sulked over gloomily. Patting her crest in thanks, the phantom and his counterpart carefully lowered Mewtwo onto her back, who sat up in surprise, staring down at Suicune and around at his surroundings.

The moon swan placed a hand on his shoulder for his attention. “You need your strength,” she gently told him, bringing herself to smile. “We're going to take you back to camp where you can rest.”

His breaths quickened, and he vigorously shook his head. “No, no... we are not leaving without Mew.”

“Mewtwo, you are our concern right now,” Darkrai stepped in. “I don't know where Mew went, but we'll come back for her.”

“No, you do not understand!” he exclaimed, starting to hyperventilate. “Mew is going to die! You saw her, you all did! She is in worse shape than I am! Legion tore her up before me, used her blood to bring this Tree back!”

Mesprit hurried over to place her hand on his forehead. “Mewtwo, please relax.”

He slapped her away. “Stop worrying about me!”

“Mewtwo, you're ill! You need to calm down!”

“How _can_ I?!” he screamed, clutching at his head. The group cowered where they stood, shivering at his strong emotion. “You do not know what Legion has done to her or to me! He is hell-bent on killing us slowly and painfully! H-He breaks you down... first mentally, causing a domino effect where your emotions, willpower, and spirit just fail. A-And then... then...”

Latias tearfully pulled away from her brother to rush to his side, throwing a hug around his shoulders. He gaped at her for the longest moment, his body tense to the touch. She only stared back, visibly quivering from fright. He took a few heavy breaths until turning away, hesitantly raising a hand to grasp hers. The Eon dragon let out a small, happy cry and nuzzled him.

Latios, after getting over his shock, came up to pat him on the shoulder. Mewtwo looked back in awe with wide eyes. Following after were the rest of the group, one by one, to come surround him and show their support. It overwhelmed him upon realizing it wasn't just him who was suffering. He noticed for the first in a while the injuries they had, at how exhausted they were, and the deep emotions present on their faces gave them the appearance of aging.

He swiftly ducked his head to wipe at his eyes just to have Latias hold his hand back. “Don't hide things from us anymore, Mewtwo,” she pleaded. “It's what got us here in the first place.”

His heart clenched at how innocent-sounding her statement was. Though when he gazed back into her large, golden eyes, he was horrified to see the innocence had disappeared. She shuddered under his unblinking stare, then dropped his hand and glanced up at her sibling. Mewtwo and Latios made eye-contact for a split second until the clone broke away, flashing the vial still clutched in his hand.

Suicune let out an abrupt huff and nearly collapsed to her knees. “Damn it, guys, as much as I like this silence, I don't want to stand around here all day. I'm starting walking with or without you. I can't... keep this up forever.” She strained herself to wobbly step forward.

Almost immediately, Raikou hopped to her side. “Sis, let me carry him,” he offered.

“I got him, I'll be fine.” She quickened her pace to balance herself.

Entei bounded over as well. “You know, Suicune, Mewtwo _is_ about your size, if not just as heavy...”

“He's not _that_ bad,” she grunted. “He's no picnic, but I can last.”

“Can I just at least carry him to the exit?”

“Go away, Entei.”

Zapdos swooped in. “I can carry him for you.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. I'd be letting Raikou carry him before you do.”

“Really?!” her brother squealed.

“Hell, no!”

Darkrai rubbed the back of his head, glancing over at Cresselia. “Do you think she can carry Mewtwo out of the Tree fine?”

“Depends on if there are steep hills and slopes.” She shrugged. “Latias, are there any of those here?”

“Just the tunnels,” she replied before tugging her brother off for the exit. “Suicune, the Tree is rather steep!”

“I can handle it!”

Mewtwo nervously looked down at her, waving away the mane from his face. “I can transport myself fine,” he sighed out, closing his eyes. (He grew dizzy immediately.)

“Oh, not you too!” she groaned. “Come on, guys, get off my back about it! I can handle it! It's not like we're going to be running the whole time, which I wouldn't mind, again!”

“Groudon's willing to take him into his own hands if you want!” Rayquaza called out with a smirk.

The titan glared at the dragon. “Oh, screw you, you're bigger than I am!”

Giratina smacked him upside the head with a wing. “Quit complaining and get a move-on,” he growled. “And also keep your mouths shut. There's no telling what we'll run into on the way out.” That very statement concerned the other Legendaries, and they hurried to keep up with Suicune and the others.

Ignoring the increasing arguments over him, Mewtwo looked behind past the others for one last scan of the field. From what he could see, he took particular notice of the Pokémon doing nothing but watching them leave. It brought some concern to him. “Are they not coming with us?” he inquired to no one in mind.

The renegade shot a look down at him when he passed by. “Why should they? They did nothing for us.”

Palkia stole a quick glance. “This is their home. Why _would_ they leave?”

Mewtwo frowned, nervously staring at a pair of crimson spires that seemed to be leading them out of the field. He wished he could tell them about Legion's plan, about why the Tree had come back, and that he was directly involved in its creation. He even wondered why it was they couldn't sense the dark aura around them. Weren't they suspicious about everything?

“`Kay, where should we go?” Entei muttered, looking the tunnel up and down. “Anyone remember how we got here?”

Shaymin bristled up a little. “Um... not really...”

“ _Dammit, we were supposed to pay attention?_ ” Deoxys growled, kicking at a crystal.

“Wait, what are we doing exactly?” Jirachi piped up. “Are we _escaping_ the Tree, or looking for Mew and _then_ escaping?”

“If I had some time, I could examine the pathways and determine where we came from,” Regirock announced, making some Legendaries blink. He stood at the front, tilted forward as though he was examining the ground. “There are a lot of us, and there are more of those people who brought us here.” He paused for a moment, then gestured to their left. “Judging by how flattened this tunnel is on this half, this is the way we had come from.”

The group stared in befuddlement down at their feet, not seeing any difference. Rayquaza had to bend over, closing an eye tightly to peer at a rock. “Uh... where the hell did you pull that from?”

“He's an expert on _rocks,_ why _else_ is he made out of the stuff?” Groudon grunted. “But I could have told you that, that's where I hit my head.” He pointed up at the ceiling. “I made that mark right there.”

“Oh, how would you know?” the dragon sneered. “Maybe _I_ made that mark, since I _am_ the tallest here.”

“You guys are so insensitive,” Articuno scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Mewtwo felt his insides squeeze the longer he stared down where Regirock confirmed their entrance. Slowly, he slid off of Suicune's back, regretting it almost immediately. Stumbling to the wall for support, he gasped out, “I came down from there.”

“Mewtwo, come back here!” the North Wind demanded. “You can barely walk!”

“All right, I call dibs!” Raikou stepped up to the psycat. “My turn to carry you, Mewtwo!”

He barely gave him an acknowledging glance. “There are a lot of tunnels... so many twists and turns... But that was where I was held... somewhere up there...”

“...can I carry you up there?”

Giving the thunder beast a look, Celebi asked, “You sure, Mewtwo? How do you know?”

Mewtwo held up the vial to eye-level before clarifying, “...I can feel it. I do not recognize anything that will physically prove I know... but something is telling me I came from there.” He carefully took a few steps forward. “And I feel... drawn to it.”

Darkrai swooped up to the front, holding him back. “Mewtwo, that is not a good sign,” he remarked, worry in his eye. “If anything, I think we should keep you _away_ from it.” He was pushed away when the clone continued moving. Snatching an arm, he harshly proclaimed, “You're going to be in danger if you follow it! Something wants to kill you, Mewtwo!”

Fear touched the hearts of the Legendaries immediately, and they started to murmur amongst themselves. Cresselia approached the phantom, trying to maintain her composure. “What are you saying, Darkrai?” she whispered.

“You don't feel it, Cress? You really can't feel this lingering evil around here?” He grew more perplexed when she shook her head. “Seriously? There's only a faint amount here, but it's powerful! Imagine what it must feel to be right by the one giving it off! In fact, I'm sure you felt it a good few hours ago! Remember? When Mew was here?”

“Darkrai, you're scaring me,” she stated boldly, though she was shivering. “I don't want to think about that anymore. Let's just get out of here.”

“ _ **Yes,**_ _let us just_ _ **go**_ _!_ ” Deoxys emphasized, shooing them forward. “ _The lady has a point, Darkrai! I want to get out of here as much as you do. Just let Mewtwo lead the way. Chances are he can find the exit like Detective Sher-Rock Holmes there can._ ”

“I am not leaving without Mew,” Mewtwo interjected, not bothering to turn around. “There is a fork up ahead... somewhere. If you had come from one way, and if I am not heading down that path, we will separate. I will catch up once I get Mew.”

“We are not leaving you behind,” Shaymin replied, glowering up at him.

He stared down at her in surprise. “You are willing to leave Mew behind, but not I?”

“I didn't mean it like that, Mewtwo. The point is, you are not in the right condition to go looking for her. And if what Darkrai said is correct, there is no way you will make it.” She timidly stepped forward, and laid a paw on his foot. “We almost lost you today, Mewtwo... I-It is a _miracle_ you are even _awake_ after what happened. I admire your determination to save Mew... it must be because of your love for her that you are even alive. But Mewtwo... this Legion as you called her... he may have killed her. I-I hate to say this, but what if you were to find Mew, and it turns out to be her corpse? The shock is going to kill you if Legion doesn't.”

She took a long breath before lowering her voice. “I am willing to leave you with a choice, Mewtwo. You can choose to come with us; we'll return to camp where you can rest up, and when you're ready, come back to find Mew. Or you can go ahead and look for her when we come to that fateful crossroad, but we may never see you again, if it turns out I am right...”

The tunnel was deathly silent, everyone holding their breath waiting for his decision. He leaned against the wall when a sick feeling spread from his gut, staring pitifully at the ground. He held out the flask to his line of vision, trembling when he took in Shaymin's words. They pierced his heart just as much as Legion's had, though the one that stood out the most was the ill-fated possibility his searching would end in vain. The last he saw of her, she looked to have been down to the last of her blood, the body being very ghostly white, if not gray. Lack of nutrients was leaving her bony and very small. Indeed, even if Legion gave back Mew, she would never live. Even _if_ she did, she would be driven insane, possibly incurable.

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, and blinking back the tears, he grasped the vial tightly in his palm. “I am going for the latter,” he murmured. “You may be right, Shaymin... and if so, I want to be the last person she sees. I do not wish to have her die alone. When she dies... do not come for me. But until then, I will fight to the last heartbeat to bring her back. She is still in there... I know it.”

The hedgehog hung her head, and the Legendaries felt a sense of emptiness fall upon them. “...so be it,” she sighed out. “This may be the dumbest mistake you ever made... but I'll respect it.” Nodding her head down the tunnel, she added “Lead the way”, and fell silent.

Steadily, Mewtwo walked on, not wanting to meet the eyes of his friends as they slowly trekked down through the tunnel. He was at least glad everyone decided to be quiet, fearing they would attract attention. He remained far ahead despite his failing strength, pausing to rest when he thought he was leaving them behind, or whenever they hit a fork in the road. Regirock, without being asked, would check down each tunnel and point out the one that was the most likely one they had used. Secretly, the clone was thankful they had not reached the separation point. Though the longer they traveled, the stronger the tug grew. He was afraid Shaymin was right all along, and though the walk was painfully silent, their company made it easier to bear.

It was too good to last. They eventually hit multiple pathways, and the odds were against him. The rock golem took his time to inspect each tunnel, making nervous stomachs churn every time he came out and went for the next. Mewtwo stood still the best he could, staring at the entrances. He knew which one he had to enter, and though he was tempted to head for it, he willed himself to stay.

Finally, Regirock came to a conclusion. His heart dropped when he gestured to the far entrance on the right. Without glancing at the others, he knew they were upset when the silence grew deafening. Reluctantly, Shaymin went first, pausing at the tunnel's mouth to gaze over at Mewtwo. He saw the movement from the corner of his vision, but he kept his eyes ahead, unsure of what to say. Without a word, she walked in. It was difficult for the others to follow, going by individually as they looked over at him. He retained his stone-like stance even when a few drew near, wanting to comfort him only to pull back after some thought. Not one of the passing Legendaries spoke.

It was eerily cold once the last one left. Having not made a single twitch when they were in the room, Mewtwo began to feel his body tremble. His legs had been threatening to give out on him, so he collapsed to his knees without a care. His hands went limp, releasing the vial to roll across the ground. He barely noticed once his emotions caught up to him, choking him in quiet, dry sobs.

Hanging and shaking his head, he hid a face into his palms. “I-I am so selfish!” his voice strangled out. “H-How could I make that decision? I cannot... ” Tearfully, he pushed himself to his feet, gulping down breaths. He grew confused about his words, thinking back to Shaymin's options. “What am I saying? I cannot leave Mew here... but I cannot abandon my friends either! What choice did I have? Could there have been another choice? I-I know there could be! But I... I...” The sadness had little time to bring him to self-pity before it momentarily evolved to anger. While upset at himself, he refused to cause self-harm, taking it out instead on the crystalline walls, cursing through his teeth. The rage was weakening him further, but he couldn't care less.

There then was the echo of a yell, making him freeze in mid-attack. Getting his breath and self-control back, he listened for it again. More screams accompanied the first one, and immediately he started to panic. Thoughts ran through his head, such as if he caused a cave-in, if they were suddenly fighting among themselves, or an ambush happened. He barely entered the tunnel they had gone through when he remembered the vial. Mewtwo fearfully scanned the chamber, finding slight relief when he saw it glint on the other side in a corner. He hurried over to it fast as he could, stomach twisting the moment there was a rumble. Clenching it in his hands, he entered the tunnel, cautiously keeping on his toes in case the group was to run around the corner.

Just when he reached the entrance to another passageway, herds of fleeing Pokémon galloped and flew out, scattering down the tunnel. Mewtwo hardly could get out of the stampede's way, at least grateful they dodged him in time when he couldn't. When the commotion passed by, he heard voices echo through followed by some thuds and cracking. Entering the path the Pokémon had arrived from, he was greeted with the sight of another field. As he inched for the exit, he watched dust clouds pick up and some attacks fly by. The shouts were more clearer now, and he was sure he was hearing someone ordering others around, and keeping “them in line”. He waited for his heart to slow down a little before peeking out. Mewtwo held back a gasp of horror at the cornered Legendaries, surrounded by the humans and Pokémon he had seen with them hours before. He couldn't see their faces, but their stances—and the chilling aura they were giving off—suggested they were very unhappy.

The group themselves had already taken a few beatings by the looks of it, though there was thankfully not enough blood to show there was an actual fight. They were on defense, continuing to try and push their attackers back with little progress. The psycat lay low in the shadows when one of them, a familiar-looking man, stepped forward.

“I do not know how the hell you got away so easily,” he growled out. “You should be very lucky Legion did not give the word for us to slaughter you.”

The Legendaries in the front huddled closer, trying to hide their fright with glowers. “Tell this Legion to let us go,” Shaymin, crouching in her Sky Forme, demanded coolly. “Do not make us tear you apart.”

The human cackled, the other cronies following suit. “Fools! You have not learned the first time, have you? You cannot kill us! We are immortal!”

“That isn't your body, demon,” Darkrai snarled, his eyes flashing. “What is your purpose here?”

“Why should we tell you? If you want an answer, talk to the demon lord. If he will let you.”

“Well, can your 'lord' kill you then, Geppetto?” Giratina inquired, almost mockingly.

The man's hands clenched in fists. “The name is Jediah! But I do not blame you, I never _really_ introduced myself.”

The renegade rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Jed. What are you, like, second-in-command?”

“I am Lord Legion's right-hand demon! I attend to his every needs!” He stood proudly in place, puffing out his chest. “If he does not want to get his hands dirty, I take it over for him!”

“Oh, so you're an ass-kisser.”

Some of the Legendaries, and a few of the humans and Pokémon snickered. (Mewtwo, as much as he thought it was slightly funny, winced.) Jediah quickly glared at them. “Am not! I was specifically hand-picked by Legion himself! It is a great honor I have upheld for the past eternity! I am _always_ doing my best, standing tall and on the go!”

Palkia elbowed Dialga with a smirk. “Something tells me he's compensating for something.” The two roared in laughter.

The man's ears turned red. “Like you should talk, dickhead!”

The Spatial Legendary guffawed. “Oh, like I hadn't heard _that_ before!” He elbowed his rival again, only to glance over to see him gawking. His eyes widened nervously, glanced around at his staring peers, then twiddled his claws. “Uh... there are ladies present! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“To hell with it, you just crossed the line!” he spat out, waving it off. “I do not give a damn now what Legion will do to me after this, I am going to rip you apart and drag you down to Hell! But first...!” He spun around and pointed directly at Mewtwo, eyes blazing with fury. “Seize him!”

The clone stumbled over his feet at the shock, barely catching himself against the wall when a handful of the minions fell upon him. None of them were bigger than he was, but he proved too weak to fight them off. They dragged him out into the field where one of the humans pinned his arms behind him and booted harshly against his lower back to knock him forward in a kneel. Hissing between his teeth, he glared up beneath his brows at Jediah.

The man leered back in equal hostility. “You are no different,” he snarled. He canted his head, a hint of curiosity in his narrow eyes. “This is the first time I _really_ took a good look at you, is it not? Lord Legion called you Mewtwo.” He squatted to pinch the feline's chin, twisting his head roughly to the side for a good look at his cord. “You do not look very natural.”

Mewtwo bared his fangs in place of speaking. The man raised a brow. “Sorry, did I hit a soft spot?” He chuckled, then released him. “Well, I do not know what you are, but you have this charisma about you. I can see why Legion felt you would be a good candidate. We need a strong, healthy generation.”

“ _Hey, pretty-boy, we're over_ _ **here**_ _!_ ” Deoxys sneered, waving his arms around. “ _What were you saying about ripping us apart and Hell and stuff?_ ”

Jediah straightened and snapped his head over in his direction. Slowly, a menacing grin sneaked its way to his face. “Oh, I will rip you apart all right,” he purred. “I do not make promises it will be as clean like how Legion would have made it, though. If I feel like it, I will just let your hearts beat so rapidly, they explode. But where is the fun in that? I want your friend here to see you painfully suffer as much as I do.” He flashed the clone a wicked smirk. “I will let you decide how you want to die, whether you want it swift, or so time-consuming, you will be _begging_ to be struck down from where you stand. But I am not going to let you. No, I enjoy screams! The best ones have their screams reach the heavens, and that is my goal for each of you! I want you to beg for death! I want you to wish me gone, even dead! Lightning, fire, I will take a tree as well, but either way I cannot die! You will have prayed in vain by the time I am done with you!”

The Legendaries cringed at his growing madness, some clinging on to one another in fear. Shaymin, while quivering on her feet, braved herself to bark out, “You do not mean all that, Jediah! You have never killed anyone in your life, Legion did that for you! You lived vicariously through him for so long, you were led to believe you can commit the same acts as he can!” A pleasing twitch of a smile flashed when she saw him tense up. “Face it, you may just be the right-hand demon, but that is all you will ever be. All you do is order others around to do the work _you_ were supposed to do. Some demon you are, you are nothing but a coward. All you do is gloat about it, you never gave us any demonstrations. We are more afraid of your 'lord' than we are of you, and that is _not_ something to be proud of!”

Mewtwo was impressed with the terrier's way of words, though the downside was the longer she talked back to him, the thicker the demon's aura became. He shook his head the entire time, hoping she would see him and clamp her mouth shut. She may have been right, but he felt in his gut Jediah had not been bluffing.

Veins popped from his temples and his eyes nearly bulged from his skull when he ground his teeth. “That does it,” he snarled, knuckles cracking at the curling of his fists. Before their eyes, a dark flame burst to life around his hands. “You shall have the honor of being the first fatality by my hand. I will personally take you down. To. Hell.” With a loud, guttural roar, he sprinted forward—

—then abruptly froze in mid-jump, falling to his side with a thud.

Everyone in the area gaped at him, the Legendaries' breaths catching in their throat at the strange sight. Mewtwo felt his heart skip a beat in surprise, and found relief at how easy he could slip his hands to his side. He heard a protesting grunt from behind him, almost pitiful, inducing him to look back at the wide-eyed stare of the human who had held him down, motionless like a statue except for the rapid movement of his eyeballs. He struggled to his feet, noticing the others standing around were just as immobilized. Slightly disturbed, he approached the group, grimacing at Jediah's crinkled face of rage, mouth open in a frozen yell. From deep inside his chest came identical hollow, unintelligible utterances.

Accidentally brushing up against Zapdos, he and the others jumped when the thunderbird let out a high-pitched scream of fright. Articuno hurriedly clamped his beak shut, feathers bristling. “Holy _crap_ , Zapdos, that is uncalled for!”

Flapping his wings wildly, he pushed his sister away for a deep gasp. “Oh, good Lordy-Lord, what the freakity-freak just happened here?!” he squealed out. “He just, he... y-you all saw that, right? My eyes haven't gone bad? Did he, are they...?”

It wasn't until he finally calmed down did they dare take a closer look. Mesprit slowly reached down to poke his nose, shaking her head in disbelief. “It can't be... but it has to be...”

_Get away from them. Go up to the farthest wall._

They all turned their heads at that moment, looking for its source. “Oh, great, now we're hearing things,” Rayquaza scoffed, folding his arms.

“I'm not even alone, and I can still hear voices!” Entei wailed, throwing his paws over his head. He paused for a moment to think on it. “It sounds a lot like Uxie's voice for some reason.”

 _Do as I say, quickly!_ the disembodied voice immediately demanded.

Mesprit flew past them, gesturing to the far end. “Come on, guys, don't just stand there! We're just going to that wall, that's it!”

Most scurried for the other side when prompted, the rest followed after a skeptical look (though Deoxys poked Jediah's face for a quick laugh). They pressed up against the rock the best they could, then before they knew it, a white, shining beam shot down from the sky, making an incredible impact. A strong wave of cold air was blasted at them, forcing them to huddle together until it blew off. Peering past a veil of frost, their jaws dropped at how the almost the entire field became a frozen wasteland within the few seconds it hit, hardly anything was recognizable under the ice.

Before any of them could find the words or the breath for a “wow”, a pillar of spiraling fire came roaring down, sending heat flares across the field. The Legendaries let out cries of shock, shielding their eyes from the luminosity of it all and trembling from the hot temperature. It cooled just as fast as it had come, worrying the group about their physical well-beings. Gingerly, they looked up, marveling in awe at the singed vegetation and at how there was no patch of grass in the very middle. And in the very center of it were piles of ashes where the bodies had been.

They were all then further taken aback when Ho-oh and Kyogre swooped into view from above, pleased looks upon their faces. As much as they couldn't show it at the moment, everyone's hearts soared with gratitude. Shaymin happily stepped forward when the phoenix perched, not bothering to hold back her tears and joy.

“You made it!” she chirped, hopping in place. “Oh, thank the heavens you made it!”

He smiled down at her, rustling his feathers when he sighed. “You had me worried, all of you did.” He raised his twinkling eyes up at the group. “I trust you're all doing fine?”

Deoxys slapped himself to let out a frustrated growl. “ _Damn it, Ho-oh, what is_ _ **wrong**_ _with you?! Were you trying to kill us or something with that show?!_ ”

The bird chuckled. “I missed you too, Deoxys.”

The alien then swerved his head over at the levitating whale, and pointed a finger at him. “ _And you! How the hell did you get up there?! Were you also trying to kill us?!_ ”

“Well good afternoon to you, too,” he grunted, rolling his eyes. “See if I try saving your ass again.”

Mesprit began looking around nervously. “Uxie, Azelf! Where are you?” She jumped and squeaked when her brothers materialized before her. They wrapped their arms around her when she cried and hugged them tightly.

Darkrai grinned. “So _that_ explains everything!” he exclaimed with a laugh, reaching out to shake their hands. “You still got it, Azelf! Kudos! And thanks for warning us, Uxie!”

He merely shook his head with a smile. “Not a problem. But, I think you're missing another detail.” He pointed at the ground with one of his tails, and everyone blinked down at a noticeable difference in greenery. It was as though nothing at their end of the field had been touched at all. “I would have done it with you all out there, but it seemed much easier to enclose everyone in a tight spot.” He shot a sly smirk, his sister squeezing him harder in thanks.

Zapdos peered around the desolate area, placing his wings on his hipbone. “I still feel we're missing someone.”

Lugia burst a large hole in the wall charging in without warning, letting out his signature shrill cry. He trailed off when he met the wide-eyed stares of the Legendaries. “Oh, did I miss the butt-kicking?”

“Where the heck did you wander off to?” Kyogre wondered with a scowl.

“For one thing, the underwater mazes to _get_ to a body of water were difficult,” he counted off snappishly on a feather, “next to the fact those pathways are so bloody tight. Another is that I arrived in the wrong field, and thus I had to fly around the Tree to _find_ you guys. And then it's because there's no _lake_ in this one, so of _course_ I wouldn't arrive that way.”

“You could have just contacted us about it.”

He pouted a little, folding his wings. “Hadn't thought of that,” he grumbled. He glanced over at the group to spot Mewtwo, and a grin spread on his beak. “All right, we found Mewtwo! How you doing, you nearly gave us a heart attack when you up-and-left!” Then his face faltered into a horrified expression. “Oh good Lord, what the heck happened to you? I mean, what did you do to yourself these past three days?”

The psycat blinked, leaning up against the wall when he couldn't stand straight any further. “What do you mean 'three days'? Mew and I have been gone that long?”

“Speaking of which, where _is_ Mew?” Lugia craned his neck. “I don't see her.”

Ho-oh frowned, stepping forward for a better look at Mewtwo's figure. “What happened here?” he asked him. He cast his eyes about at the others, matching the sea guardian's surprise. “What's with these injuries?”

“Did those humans have anything to do with it?” Azelf spoke up sternly. “And what about the Tree? Why is it back?”

The Legendaries flinched a little at the questions, many of them shrugging and shaking their heads. The clone, knowing those inquiries were for him, only dropped his eyes when he shivered. He raised his hand to stare at the vial, surprised it was still intact. The five newcomers leaned in for a glimpse of it.

The phoenix let out a sigh through his nostrils. “Do you know anything about this, Mewtwo?” he whispered slowly.

Closing his eyes, he nodded. “Yes... for the most part.”

Leaning back, he brushed back his limp crown. “Well, you can fill us in later. This is not the place to talk about it, the humans will regenerate any minute now.”

“Wait, how'd you know about that?” Celebi gasped. “Are there actually _more_ of them out there?”

“Powerful littler buggers to boot,” Kyogre huffed. “I barely got away with my life.” The male fairies nodded sadly in agreement.

“Doesn't matter, we're where they want us,” Ho-oh said bitterly. “We have to leave before they come back to life.”

“Too late,” Giratina murmured, whose eyes had never once wavered from the field.

Everyone turned for a look, some barely holding back curses at the sight of numerous pillars of ash building up on nonexistent wind. They all collected themselves to reform the ankles-up in a swift flourishing movement. Smaller bodies were close to finishing and had regained mobility, moving about and their hands clenching. The atmosphere became heavy, the sign of their rage.

Shaymin gritted her teeth. “What now, sir?” she growled, her leadership passing back to the Sky Guardian.

He spun to fully face the recovering demons, wings spreading out. “We fight them.”

Many heads were turned. “We _what_?!” Rayquaza hollered.

Ho-oh shot a wary look up at him. “There is no other choice. There is nothing we can do.”

“Sir, we are in no condition to fight!” Suicune spoke out for the others. “We were escaping for a reason, to go into hiding and heal!”

“You wouldn't have been able to get far. It's a miracle _we_ managed to break _in_.”

Most of the humans had recovered, glaring daggers into the group, some even shouting out death threats. Jediah's lower face was finished so he could shout out “On my command!”, his body getting into fighting stance. “Do not hold back, kill them if you must!”

Hesitantly, everyone silently stepped forward into a line of defense, falling into their own attack postures. Mewtwo had just gotten into position when Ho-oh pushed him back. “Mewtwo, go find Mew,” he murmured. “Whether this is directly related to you or not, you are the only one who is able to reach her.”

He shook his head and tried to plead his case. “Ho-oh, let me fight as well. I cannot leave my friends—”

“Don't argue with me. You are in no condition for this. I do not know what is going on here, but this has to be related to yours and Mew's disappearance. Do you have an idea where she may be?”

The clone glanced over at the hole Lugia had made, feeling a pull towards it. “...my guess is she is in the Heart.”

“Do you know where it is?”

He swallowed nervously. “That I am unsure about. But I feel I am being led to her... somehow.”

The phoenix nodded, looking back at the humans. He crossed visions with the man in front, and immediately felt pure hatred pierce him in the gut. Unable to look away, he reached back to nudge him off. “Good luck, Mewtwo. We'll come for you if we survive this.”

His heart ached at the sincerity in his voice. With one last scan of the Legendaries, he quickly slipped out of the field, then rested up against the wall by the exit for a listen.

“KILL THEM!” Mewtwo heard Jediah's scream echo into the tunnel, causing him to freeze up.

“You fool, don't just stand there, run!” Ho-oh's order followed after before he was overtaken by determined shouts from both the enemy and his friends.

The clashing battle outside kept him in place out of guilt until the demon's further addition made his stomach churn. “Summon the blood cells and have the guards search the Tree! I WANT HIM _ALIVE_!”

He finally willed his legs to move, allowing himself to be overtaken by the pull to clear his thoughts away. He barely cleared the corner when he saw a bubbling pile of gelatinous mass forming itself before him, almost like it was crawling out through the ground. It was shaped of that like an Omastar, and when most of its tentacles were out, it shot forward to wrap around his arm. Mewtwo quickly found his sense of balance and pulled himself backward, though it did little. His heart skipped when it bounced straight at him, so acting on instinct, he shot a psychic blast directly into it, causing it to explode.

Shaking off the shock and remains, he quickly glanced back where the battle was taking place as he ran down the tunnel.

 


	17. Confrontation

“ _My first cry never-ending_

_All life is to fear for life_

_You fool, you wanderer_

_You challenged the gods and lost”_

_\-- “Planet Hell”, Nightwish, “Once”_

*~*~*

For the whole time they stood before it, the Veil was curiously rippling like someone was batting at it on the other side. As hypnotizing as it was, it brought some concern to Mew. “Does it always do this?”

The girl gave a slight shrug. “I'm not entirely sure. The only time I can think of when it did this was when the world ended, only more violently. Though whenever a multitude of people die, it _does_ move a lot, if that's what you're asking about.”

Her heart clenched in fear. “Y-You mean... they're _dying_?”

“You can say that.” Amber hung her head a little. “They're losing. They haven't had time to get their strength back. Even if they were perfectly healthy, the strength of these demons are unlimited. They cannot fight them on their own.”

Shaking her head, the feline grasped tightly onto her sleeve. “But Amber! They can't die! They just can't!”

“That's why I brought you back here. You have to take back your body, and you and Mewtwo have to destroy the Tree.”

Her eyes slowly widened, her fingers unraveling themselves from the cloth to hover. “...I thought we're neutralizing it,” she breathed out.

Amber gave a short nod. “You are, but you have to kill it when it's neutralized.”

“But _why_?!” came the abrupt cry. “Isn't it already dying anyway?!”

The girl's head hung, a look of hurt on her face. “It's very ill, so naturally it would be,” she sighed out. “If we keep it alive, it will poison the whole earth. Besides, the world doesn't need it anymore. It isn't fulfilling its original purpose now that you are no longer its guardian.”

Mew let out a quiet whimper, looking back at the writhing Veil. She trembled from the mixture of anger and sadness shooting throughout her body, feeling the blood pumping through the open wounds weakly. Staring ahead, she choked down her sobs as her mind wandered back to her friends fighting on the other side. She could sense their distress, could even feel the flicker of souls at the edge of death. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew they weren't going to make it.

When the child's hand curled around her fingers, she squeezed back. Amber's voice was calm, almost dark. “Mew... I must warn you that the moment you pass through, Legion will sense you there, maybe even see you. It is a very difficult task to enter back into your body and cast him out, but I know you can do it.” Releasing her paw, she gently pet her head. “You are strong enough to fight back. As long as your will overpowers his, he can never possess you again.”

The petite Legendary let out another small sound of protest, hanging her head to close her eyes. She was supposed to feel comforted by her soft hand, but somehow couldn't bring herself to relax. Grasping at her arms when she shivered, she murmured without looking up, “Amber... please tell me how you died.”

She gave a sad smile, pulling her hand back and gazing up at the endless curtain. Standing straight, she started off, “I was born into a good, loving family. We lived well for living out in the developing suburbs, what with Papa being a scientist. This meant that at most times, he was away working, so it was Mama and I for most days. But luckily, Papa had one day off a week so we could spend time together. We would go out for drives, walks in the park, the movies in town, just about whatever. We were very happy together. I think Mama and Papa were ready to give me a brother or sister.”

Amber giggled lightly before sighing. “One day, we went for a drive. It was normal, and it was a sunny day. I hadn't sat by the window before this time, so I felt bigger sitting right behind Papa. I was on my knees like I usually did, watching Papa work the wheel... when all of a sudden, this large truck came for us. Papa had to turn very hard, Mama was horrified, and I barely caught myself from falling to the floor. And then the car flipped over, and we rolled over into a ditch. We hadn't worn our seat belts. Mama and Papa managed to get through okay, but I was bleeding very badly. Paramedics arrived just as I passed out from laughter... talking to Papa about becoming a star...”

Mew had her full attention on her by this time, her eyes wide in silent shock. The young lass seemed to feel her stare upon noticing she had trailed off. “I had returned home for maybe no longer than an hour when Father told me He had something special for me. My parents had separated down on Earth when Papa became obsessed about bringing me back. Father was sad about it all, but He told me He was willing to give Papa a second chance. I knew Papa was working for a wicked man out of desperation, and that man wanted a very powerful Pokémon in return. I watched as Papa took a trip to the Amazon where they stayed for a good few months before they found a fossil. They studied it carefully while Papa worked in the background to make a new body of myself. This was when Father asked me to go inhabit the new body for a short while until He called me back. So when it was ready, I went back down. Because I passed through the Veil, I had to forget about what Heaven was like, but I guess Father allowed me to keep some memories. I was also able to see spirits from time to time. But they were the bad spirits... they told everyone there bad things...”

The feline laid a hand on her shoulder when Amber started to quake. They gazed at each other for a few moments before the girl took a breath. “Sorry about that,” she apologized, brushing away her bangs. “I was there in that tube for quite some time. Papa would talk to me about the current events, about his own private thoughts. He was heartbroken ever since I died and Mama left him. I had asked once where she went. He didn't really say, though he had mentioned something about her probably seeing another man. He never knew Mama killed herself. Imagine my surprise when I saw her standing and crying behind Papa when he was working. That was the only time I saw her.”

Mew spotted a tear at the corner of her eye before the girl blinked it away. “Well, after a while, Papa and his group figured out about the DNA, and they created Mewtwo's body and a few other Pokémon as well.” A tiny smile found its way to her lips. “I watched as their spirits descended into the bodies to give them life. I didn't know then why that was, but I do now. Father wanted Papa to learn a lesson from all this. He loved Papa very much that he was trying to humble him about life. Papa never accepted the fact I was dead, and he forgot all the things he taught me about life.

“It took a few months before Mewtwo and the others matured enough to have strong brainwaves. I decided then to contact them. They were confused, and yet curious. I had grown to love them by this time, so when I had finally talked to them, and began answering their questions, I felt like a big sister to them, even a mother-figure. So I taught them to count, how to spell, to memorize body parts and what they do...” She giggled. “I even went ahead to show them what the outside world looked like, like where I lived, what my Papa and his workers ate and drank, all kinds of things. We had fun together, and I was happy to see they were growing up. I had felt a strong bond toward Mewtwo the moment Papa introduced him to me, and thus I was very close to him. During the many months we were together, he had this undying love for learning. He was always saying to me, 'More, Amber, more! I want to learn more!'”

The two found themselves chuckling over it. Mew grinned at imagining a young Mewtwo tugging on Amber's dress and asking many questions. “Wow, Amber, how did you manage to answer all of his questions?” she inquired. “You two were young, how did you do it?”

“I don't know myself. I suppose as a child, you just know everything.” Then her face suddenly faltered, and the Legendary felt in her heart something was wrong. She was quiet for a minute, eyes glazing over in a faraway look until she gradually found her way back to reality. “And then one night... we were looking at the moon above us, just talking. Well actually, he was asking questions, and I was answering him, like always. Then he asked me 'Why are we born?', to which I told him there was a mother and a father. He wanted to know who his parents were... and I was stumped for the first time. I had almost forgotten why he was there, why _I_ was there. When one is growing in a tube in a laboratory, you don't learn the important things in life, like what a family is, what love is, and so on. In fact, by this time, I didn't know Papa anymore. He had become so different, and was gone a lot, I nearly forgot he was even there. Even though Mewtwo was being created to be something else entirely, I made sure he was loved everyday. I made sure he laughed all the time, in the hopes he would remember it when he was out doing... whatever they were going to make him do.” 

Amber reached over to clasp hands with Mew. “The only answer I could come up for him was that God was his parent... and that He was mine, even though Papa was technically my father. Then I ended up telling him he was a Pokémon, and he thought I was one as well. Which is funny in a way, since the first time we met, that was the first thing I taught him. I told him Pokémon are a little stronger than humans, hinting that he was in perfect health. Did I mention that my body was weakening every day while in that tube?”

Though she shook her head, the feline murmured, “But I figured that was the case. You never did step foot outside of the tube, did you?”

The girl squeezed her paw before resuming. “It was at that moment I heard my name being called. Not physically, but in my heart. 'Amber, your work is done. It's time to come home.' And I felt my body begin to die. Mewtwo didn't know what was wrong, but I couldn't tell him I was dying. I just couldn't... so I told him to live... and that I was thankful to have been with him. Then he began to cry, not knowing why he was crying. It was then I realized something. Whether it was because of his DNA, or my doing, he was part-human. Pokémon rarely cry, and when they do, it's because they hurt. However, Pokémon have feelings, they always have. It's what makes them human if only for a moment. There are those special Pokémon who are more human than we are, Mewtwo being one of them. He didn't know why I was leaving, but he understood enough that he was upset. He cried for me... screamed out my name as I ascended back into Heaven.

“I was honestly upset myself, even told off Father about it. He is very understanding, and He reminded me that I was going to die even _had_ my body survived into adulthood. That's the curse of mortality. Mewtwo is going to live a long life, longer than most Pokémon, so he would have out-lived me anyway. But happily, I was assigned to be Mewtwo's guide, or guardian angel as you put it, and I've been watching him since.”

She closed her eyes for a few moments, smiling at the memories of her friend. When she looked down at Mew, the Legendary was holding back her sobs, her tears dripping off her cheeks. Feeling a sensation of sympathy, gratitude and sadness, Amber knelt down to throw her arms around her tiny companion. The feline returned the hug, burying her face into her chest to weep. They held each other for what they hoped to have been a long, peaceful time, the worries of the other side forgotten for the moment to make room for the impact of emotions. The girl calmly rubbed Mew's back, not bothering to fight back the stray tears that found their way out.

Before long, all she could hear was the hiccups stifling themselves in her dress. Laying her head between her ears, the angel whispered in a loving tone, “Mew... thank you for your tears. But please don't cry for me. I had my chance to cry, and I chose to go out with a smile. Mewtwo's tears couldn't bring me, his best friend, back to life. What chance do _you_ have of bringing me back to life? I have been dead for hundreds of years, my mortal body is long gone. Mewtwo will not remember me. But you will.” After a squeeze to her shoulder, Amber stepped back a few feet.

Mew gazed tearfully at her shining smile, feeling no desire to leave her. It tore at her heart when the girl slowly shook her head. “I cannot keep you here any longer,” she sighed out. “It's not your time right now. Mewtwo is looking for you, he's in more desperate need for your help than I am. Go to him, and live. We will be here when you return.”

The feline sniffled. “'We'?”

A wide grin spread on her bright face, and she extended her arms out beside her. Dissolving out of the darkness came a silver film from behind. Upon taking a closer inspection, the Legendary slowly gasped in awe, watching as personages walked into view. On one side stood a throng of people, dressed all in white, in robes or dresses, with loving smiles on their faces. Though she was quite sure it was because she had been in the Spirit World for so long, she felt she knew many, if not all of them. Flashing through her mind were images of them in their mortal life, from when she saw them as children, as adults, and in between. They were the few who knew of her existence, the few who kept their encounters prized in their hearts, never telling another soul about it. Many were pure in their hearts, others were courageous, while some were misguided for a time. As she cast her eyes about them, they all nodded in silent encouragement.

Placing a hand to her heart, Mew looked over to see a multitude of Pokémon standing in the same manner as the humans. And much like with them, she knew every one. Together in one place like a family were the clones, along with their originals and families. She felt joy at how they had found their happiness, their own special place on this side of the Veil. It took her a few moments before she recognized the larvae children as how they were as adults, catching the innocence in their eyes. She had to cover her mouth when she sobbed, feeling the tears once again.

Closing her eyes tightly, she took a deep breath before looking back up, and nearly gasped. Standing close by was a figure very much like herself, albeit slightly bigger. Everything was how she still remembered about her, from her posture to her eyes—she had never forgotten the eyes. She had missed the love that dwelled deep inside them from the day she was born; it was the love that taught her hope and life.

Unable to hold it in any longer, she rushed forward and threw her arms around her with a wail. “Oh, Mother, you're back, you're back!” She received a tight hug and a nuzzle against her head as a reply. A quiet purr escaped from Mew, and she squeezed her more. “I missed you so much, Mother, it's been... it's been forever.” Grasping her mother's paws, she smiled tearfully. “I never forgot you, I swear. But you were gone so quickly... I stayed hidden for a couple of days waiting for you to return, but you never did. I was so alone...”

Her parent only raised a hand to wipe at her eyes, and almost immediately her childlike instincts made her mumble a protest, bringing a smile to her mother's face. “You did well, dear,” she sighed out. Her voice was softer than she remembered it to have been. “I'm proud of you. I had faith in you ever since you were conceived. And now, here you are, a beautiful, strong, mature female who knows her purpose in the world.”

Mew blushed a little, hanging her head. “Actually, Mother... I prefer being called a 'woman'.”

To her surprise, she grinned. “Even better.”

She smiled as well until a thought came to her head. Lifting her head to scan the crowd, she frowned a little. “...where's my father?”

Her mother's smile never faltered, though it became sad. “He's not with us. We were... not as close as we thought we were.”

Mew felt something sink in her chest, and her arms dropped. The desire to see her father's face depleted from the disappointment. “I'm sorry...”

“Don't be, I'm more happy for you. I was honestly surprised how you and Mewtwo have gotten along over the past few centuries. Though to tell you the truth, you didn't have any other choice.”

“Mother!”

She laughed heartily at the heavy blush on her daughter's face. “Oh ho ho, I waited all these years to finally say that! That's one thing off my chest.”

“Don't tell me you have more!” she groaned in disbelief.

“I'll save those some other time. Mostly for when your mate is around.” And she laughed again.

Mew's ears flattened a little in embarrassment when she dropped her eyes. She loosened up when two familiar characters stepped forward, big smiles on their faces. “Pikatwo, Meowtwo! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!” She reached down to give them hugs.

They returned it awkwardly before the Pikachu cleared his throat. “We just wanted to say we're so happy you and Mewtwo are together. Meowtwo and I and the others were worried he'd be alone forever. He never _did_ show interest in finding a mate.”

“But boy was he jealous of us,” Meowtwo smirked, nudging his friend. “I could tell by the way he looked at our kids. You noticed?”

“To me, he looked like he was plotting to eat them.”

The Legendary stole a quick glance at her mother, nervously grinning. “Mewtwo would never do that.”

“Oh yeah, he wouldn't,” Pikatwo agreed. “He'd just go on saying how he was never going to have kids. But we know better.”

“It was only a matter of time.” The Meowth raised a quirky brow at Mew. “Isn't that right, Mew?”

She twiddled her fingers in further anxiety. “Yeah... um... was that all you wanted to tell me?”

“Naw, just came by to say hello, maybe introduce you to the kids, and say good luck.”

Pikatwo rolled his eyes, hiding a chuckle. “Thanks for keeping him company, Mew,” he added, giving a thumbs-up. “We really appreciate you looking out for the big guy. If we weren't so caught up all the time, we would have visited him more often instead of him looking for us whenever he felt like it.”

“ _You_ were 'caught up,' I was baby-sitting,” Meowtwo muttered, shooting him a look.

Mew forced herself to laugh to brush off the awkwardness. “Oh, you are so welcome, you two! But you seriously didn't have to thank me. I have always enjoyed being with Mewtwo. I should thank _you_ _two_ for keeping him sane for so long. I would have been unable to without you.”

They both blushed and gave toothy grins.

Her heart soaring, she grasped their faces to plant a kiss to their foreheads (giggling when they bristled in shock) before pulling away. Turning back around, she smiled at her mother and gave her one last hug. “Thank you for everything,” she murmured, snuggling into her neck. “You did your best to care for me. Though you didn't teach me everything, that belief that I'd see you again has always been with me. It kept me alive this long... I think I can last another hundred years without you.”

She cupped her face when they separated. “I know you can. I let you go sooner than I would have liked, but I honestly cannot see it happening any other way.” She gently kissed her daughter's forehead. “Go to him, sweetheart. He needs you more than I do.”

Nodding, Mew headed back for the Veil, pausing before it for one last look. When a thought came to mind, she frowned solemnly, hanging her head. _I'm going to forget all of this... am I?_

“Only when you enter your body again.”

She lightly gasped, spinning around to face whoever spoke. Her eyes widened at the sight of a tall, beautiful woman standing a few feet away. She took in her white countenance, at how silver and lengthy her hair was, the angel sleeves and dress trailing on the ground—her perfection in general. When they made eye-contact, blue-on-sapphire, Mew felt at peace and a love she had nearly dismissed. She wavered in place, overwhelmed by it all.

“...Amber? This... this is you?”

The woman grinned brightly and nodded. “This is my perfect body, the way Father made me.” She let out a laugh similar to that of her younger self. “There is a reason I remained as a child for you, Myriam.”

The feline's heart jolted. “How do you know my name? O-Only my close family members can...”

Amber stepped forward to kneel before her. “I will give you a few guesses, and the first two do not count.” She winked, sending Mew into shivers. Tilting her chin up, she resumed, “You know, I recall that many years ago, Mewtwo made a promise to himself to never cry. How can you blame him, being forced to become someone he is not. But though his heart did soften over the years, he remained strong in that belief because he believed he is strong enough not to.” A sweet smile manifested itself on her smooth face. “You are very special to him, Myriam. I hope you realize that.”

Mew couldn't keep her tears back when they came on their own accord. She was vaguely aware it wasn't a regular cry. “Thank you for showing me that, Amber,” she murmured. “I fought it for so long... I was so upset... and so selfish...” Hiccuping, she gazed back up at her, and quietly lamented, “I-I don't want to forget. I want to remember you a-and everything you told me.”

The angel gave a surprisingly mischievous smile. “I will see if I can tweak some strings. I do not promise you will remember _everything_ though.” Giggling, she leaned forward and softly pressed her lips to her forehead. “I will see you later, Myriam. Be careful.” She stepped back to be among the crowd.

Taking in the multitude, hoping it will be burned into her subconscious, Mew waved to them, bringing a small smile upon her face. Then, deeply inhaling, she carefully slipped through the Veil.

*~*~*

Mewtwo had underestimated himself. He wasn't unsure where the Heart was, he was _exactly_ unsure. He knew where the so-called bedchamber was, but he guessed where to go from there. Legion had taken care not to show him too much of the Tree, and even from what he could see, everything looked the same. The only sense of direction he had was the dismay deep inside him. He was certain he was sensitive enough to the demon's aura by the way it gripped his heart, for the closer he got, the more he shivered and willed himself to continue forward.

He strained his broken body beyond its limits and necessities the further he climbed. He feared going through the tunnels, as any sound he'd make would be reverberated off the crystalline walls and possibly attract the minions or white blood cells. It didn't help that his labored breathing often choked him, and there were plenty of loose rocks he slipped on. While resting or in hiding, he tried to heal himself, though he was still fairly weak to do much more than close up the shallow wounds. He would stare at the vial still clenched in his hand, arguing with himself about drinking it or not. His heart overcame him every time.

Upon rounding a corner, his back stung when a sharp chill ran down his spine, forcing Mewtwo to claw into the wall to keep his balance. He swallowed down nausea amidst his rapid breathing, staring in horror at the entrance looming down the tunnel. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the Heart, feeling a strong tug in its direction like it was reeling him in—it called for him. It was the sight of Legion in front of the lily that kept him from running inside. The psycat's knees quaked as he gazed at Mew's back, now on the brink of tears.

Shaking his head to clear a headache, he turned away, taking in deep breaths. “Calm down, Mewtwo,” he murmured to himself, despite it making his tremors worse. “Y-You can do this... you stood up to Legion before... Just have to destroy the Heart...”

Glancing at the water, he gingerly made his way toward the room, trying desperately to keep from falling to a crawl. The aura spilling from the chamber was very heavy, a sign the demon wasn't happy. His palms began to sweat, making it harder to grip onto the wall and the vial without worry of cracking it. He avoided looking at Legion as he advanced inside, finding it harder to breathe than before. Once he was in far enough, he quietly eased down to his hands and knees when he couldn't stand any longer and slipped behind a spire.

 _I have to go around,_ he thought as he assessed the Heart. _I hope there are enough of these crystals to keep me concealed—_

“It is meaningless to think you can roam around undetected,” Mew's echoed voice stated in a matter-of-fact tone, startling him. “The crystals react to your presence, strangely enough.” There was a short pause. “And also, you are wheezing a bit. You are not in the condition to move. How you got here without passing out eludes me.”

Sucking in a harsh breath (thus proving her point even further), Mewtwo stood up. Mew had made no indication she had looked behind her. The only visible movement was her rhythmic flicking of the wrist. He found himself nearly mesmerized by it.

“Did you want something, darling?” she inquired of him. “Thinking about apologizing for what you said to me? For what you did to me?” She rolled her head in a circle so small pops could be heard, making him flinch. “You have some explaining to do.”

Slightly shaking his head, he responded, “I-I came to stop you, Legion.”

A quiet, cruel laugh immediately escaped her. “With _that_ attitude? Hell, you cannot even stand without supporting yourself. What makes you think you are adept enough to challenge me?”

“Legion, you have tormented us long enough,” he added on, quickly stepping away from the spire. “I ask of you to release Mew and leave us in peace.”

She laughed again, most likely as a mockery. “I was half-expecting you to beg for release. Guess I have been underestimating you.” She fell silent for a long moment, the aura becoming a large burden on the clone's shoulders. He shifted nervously where he stood, daring to step closer, hardly looking away from her circling wrist. “By the way, Mewtwo, since you reminded me, I have a small question to ask of you.”

He started to subconsciously roll the flask around in his palms. “What is the question?”

Legion waited through another heavy moment before speaking up. “Have you talked to Mew lately?”

Mewtwo shivered a little as he dropped his eyes, choking on his breath. _How did he know?_ “I, uh... I-I have.”

“When?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I ask the questions,” she snapped, her knuckles cracking when she clenched her fists. “When did you last talk to Mew?”

He carefully chose his next words, even taking the time to prevent himself from stumbling. “E-Erm... well... I am not entirely _sure_ if I did speak to her. I had passed out from blood-loss from when you... taught me a lesson.” He bit his lip nervously at the memory. “If I have to venture a guess, it would have been between three to five hours ago.”

“Just say 'today',” she snarled, losing patience according to her tone. “You talked to her _today_.”

“I talked to her today,” he repeated pitifully.

She lifted her head slightly. “And? What did you two talk about?”

Mewtwo held himself when he shivered, thinking back to the event. He remembered her calling his name, sounding more desperate with every breath. When he did respond, she had a complete one-eighty, begging him to leave, to not come further or he would die. He was still confused about her claim that on her side was the “spirit world”, though he couldn't see anything else. He truly wanted to be with her, to hold her, to love her, but most importantly, to bring her back. She kept refusing, screaming about being a murderer and at how she killed herself despite it not being her fault. So then...

He frowned slightly, glancing back up at the demon. He couldn't tell him. The memory was as clear as day, but it was what he had experienced that was keeping him quiet; it was too special, too sacred to tell Legion. They had both felt it at once, every single emotion they went through, the exchanging of souls... he had heard her inner self pleading with him to not go. It was as though she knew what was going on, and what might happen.

“Well? What did you talk about?”

He shook his head, closing his eyes. “I cannot say.”

“Why not?”

“It is only between Mew and I.”

“Can you tell me what you were _doing,_ though?”

Legion was growing more agitated, he could sense it in the air. He quietly let out a shaky breath. “I cannot say that either.”

He glanced back up when he heard the demon scoff. “Thought so. But no matter, I already know the answer to that.” Slowly, Mew glanced over her shoulder, her iris glinting dangerously. “You two kissed.”

He felt his heart clench. “Why would it concern you?” he muttered. “We have kissed a few times before this.”

Her eye narrowed. “Do you have any idea what you have done?”

“I do not.”

“That is a lie.” She spun around to face him fully. The shadows splitting across her face frightened him when she strode forward. As much as he wanted to back away, to separate himself from the terror before him, he found his feet were refusing to obey. “You know what you have done,” Mew snarled, flexing her fingers. “You knew she was dead. You knew what would have happened if you kissed. You _knew_ of the renewal of the covenant. _You knew_ the opportunity was there, and you took it!” She paused before him at eye-level, her glare freezing his insides. “ _You_ _ **do**_ know what you have done, Mewtwo, now _say it!_ ”

His voice nearly cracked when he exclaimed, “I only kissed her! We did nothing else!”

“ _ **LIAR!**_ ” He cowered at the high intensity and the echoes it left behind. “YOU ARE A _LIAR!_ YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! YOU _BOTH_ DO!” She sharply cut her tail across his cheek, slicing it on a molar. “Mates for life, was that not what the Mew species did?! How is it, then, that you two could become _eternal mates_?! _How?!_ ” She repeated the slap on the other side.

Mewtwo spat out some blood before answering weakly, “E... Eternal mates?”

She smacked him once more, hard enough to slam him into a spire. “Do not pretend you do not know what it means! You know damn well what you have done!” Watching him struggle to pull himself back up, she raised the left arm before her and slashed at the gash. The clone let out a startled gasp upon feeling a searing fire shoot through his limb, almost dropping the vial. He raised his eyes just when she calmly sunk her claws into her cheek, right onto the wounds, and slit it deeper down to her jaw.

It was the most horrendous sensation he had felt in a long time. He screamed not from the pain, or that it felt like bugs under his skin, but at how  _ mellow _ Legion was about ripping apart Mew's body. Her expression barely changed from when the corners of her lips twitched at his sensory suffering. 

“Stop it, Legion!” he shouted, struggling not to scratch at his face to rid himself of the feeling. “Please, stop, she is damaged enough already!”

The demon barked out a short laugh, dropping her hand to her side. “You are so typical, so quick to jump to conclusions. I am just making a point here. You see, now that you are of one mind and spirit, in a sense, if Mew ever hurts herself, you feel that very pain. If she is happy, sad, angry, of  _ any _ emotion, you will either sense it or develop that emotion as well. If you were ever separated from one another, you can communicate with your hearts. Even from beyond the grave.” 

A smirk spread when Mewtwo shuddered, still rubbing his face as he swallowed deep breaths to calm himself down. She circled him, taking care to run her tail across his shoulders to send him into shivers. “But then again... it all depends on the strength of your bond. You can be eternal mates and still not be close. You two do not have to worry about that. If I am not mistaken, you two are  _ very _ close. However, despite that tight bond, there are ways to break it, if only very few. One of them is for having one of you dead for too long a period of time. If one half is tired of waiting for their other half to return to them, they may find another mate. Which leads to the next possible way to break the bond...” 

She let out a breathy chuckle, lowering herself down to his level and taking his chin into her paw. “It is something you may be familiar with, honey, having watched the humans do it for years. Unless you had the other mate's permission, you cannot get yourself a new mate, even for a one-night stand. But mates rarely share each other regardless, even  _ as _ spirits. Infidelity is very frowned upon on the other side.”

He jerked away. “What are you getting at?”

She leaned in to touch noses, running a finger down his jawbone. “You know what I want.”

Shivers painfully racked his figure. “What do you want me to do?”

It felt like his heart had stopped when he saw the wicked gleam in her demonic eyes. She sensually licked her lips as her grin widened, and she drawled out her answer, “Fuck me. _Hard_.”

With little time to react, Legion pounced on Mewtwo, wrestling him to the ground with ease. The clone's head smacked against one of the larger spires, stunning him enough to be pinned into the concave corner. He felt the bottle slip along his fingers, but was distracted when Mew sunk her claws into his face as she devoured his mouth, cutting her tongue past his lips. He shot his hands forward to push her off only for them to be aggressively repelled by an invisible force, and lay paralyzed on the crystals above him. With a chuckle, she thrusted herself further against his lean body. Breathless, he struggled to put space between them to find he was completely flattened to the spire with barely any wriggle room.

He let out a pleading whimper to which she obliged in messily pulling back to give him air. “Re—Release me!” he managed to pant out, his eyes stinging from his forming tears.

With a smirk, she slurped the saliva off his chin, then bit her way down his throat and chest. Mewtwo fidgeted when her tail began stroking between his thighs, inducing his body heat to climb. The further Mew slid down his torso, the more he desperately fought against his restraints. He squinted at the harsh glow the crystals gave off, noticing they pulsated along with his climbing heart rate. As curious as it was, he easily pushed it from mind when he spotted the small bottle lying against a further spire a good several feet away. He noticed at a second, longer glance there was the possibility it fractured. Gritting his teeth, he attempted to ignore his strong headache to telepathically levitate it back until his counterpart suddenly paused directly above his lower region. The fanged grin flashed when they crossed visions, freezing his insides.

Mew slowly straightened up to straddle him. “Face it, _darling_ , you cannot win if you do not fight me,” she purred, a laugh at the tip of her tongue. “Even if you do, and you break this body, I will still come out the victor. You cannot kill me the way you could kill Mew if she were here right now. That is the difference between her and I: mortality, and _im_ mortality. As long as I am in control of this body, I can keep it alive, and keep it from aging. Which means you shall be mine for as long as it takes to give me what I want, even if I have to drain you dry.” A twisted smile broadened when she tilted her head. “But I hear that until you die, your body will only make more. And since the female only has a certain amount of eggs, let us not waste anymore time.” She lowered a hand and began fondling.

Immediately, Mewtwo started to sweat and squirm from her intense touch. He fought back moans, though he could do little about his carnal actions as he felt himself unsheathe. “Think about what you are doing, Legion! You are making a grave mistake!”

She refused to budge, her tongue licking across her bottom lip. “That feels lovely, does it not?” she cooed as his muscles tightened in endeavor to lift himself from the floor. Just as the clone let out a sharp, contracted gasp, her eyes brightened when her hand brushed along the protrusion. “Yes, Mewtwo,” she breathed out, raising her brows. A quiet cackle ripped out of her throat, running her fingers along its length. “ _Salute me_.”

A throbbing ache began to spread, forcing him to grit his teeth upon throwing his head back, fighting to steady his breathing. His vision wavered, though he couldn't keep his eyes closed without growing nauseous, his thoughts muddled. A groan squeezed its way out of his chest from a stray, but well-placed stroke, his hips suddenly bucking. He struggled to throw her off, though she held on with her thighs.

“Relax, honey. It is normal to be anxious, but just give it a moment...”

He swiftly shook his head, straining to move his arms down. “P-Please... hear me out...”

“Oh, I will, dear,” she snickered. “But it will not be just me. I want _everyone_ to hear you enjoying it, even your beloved. I am certain she will find herself enjoying it as well.” She let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes, her paw slowing its caressing. Mewtwo felt his body tremble from the adrenaline, cold perspiration running down his neck.

“What do you think the child will look like?” she whispered, gazing up at him beneath her eyelashes. The shadows across her eyes accentuated the piercing glow. “Will he be a mixture between you and Mew? Or possibly an exact replica of you? It is also possible he may look just like his mother. Unless you are wanting a specific look? I can do that. I would have to find the right egg and sperm, which may take a while, so we might as well get comfortable while you make up your mind.”

Mewtwo swallowed nervously as Mew positioned herself right on the tip of his manhood, smiling evilly down at it. He tried to ignore the touches while his thoughts hurriedly recalled back to what the demon said, remembering there was a flaw. _Wait..._ _The right egg... egg... the ovulation period... The surgery... The poison!_

Quickly glimpsing over at the bottle, he blurted out, “You overlooked one other detail, Legion.”

She appeared intrigued. “Hmm? Are you telling me you are quick?” A pleased smile flashed, frightening him. “Well then, let me assist you.”

He stopped her before she could make another move. “No, no, Legion, just listen to me,” he pleaded. “There is something wrong here.”

Her ears perked up when she made eye-contact. A cold wave flushed through his chest at the sight of a scowl. “What are you saying?”

Taking a deep breath to collect himself, he thought back to the brief topic of her ovulation. From there, as unpleasant as it was, the memory of Mew laid on a table screaming at the scientists as they cut out the baby came to mind. Then after that horrific moment, the ones of importance were the brief conversation between two of them about the surgery and its consequence, and Bridget's confession.

Mewtwo carefully thought out his response before speaking up. “Remember when Mew was in the lab?”

A brow rose. “Of course, I showed you the memory.”

He slightly nodded. “So you know Mew had a Caesarean section.”

“Correct. It is faded now, but you can see the scar if you look closely.”

Biting his lip, he dared not look away from her eyes. “Notice where the incision is, _how_ it is,” he indicated. “It did not help they were not careful. Because of it, Mew will only have a few children before complications follow.”

Mewtwo detected Mew's jaw nearly locking in place. “'Complications'?” she echoed.

“There is more.” He swallowed down a lump in his throat, fighting back the tears. “She also has a poison in her bloodstream that is lethal to the fetus. I-I do not know how much she consumed, but she had enough where it will be part of her for a long time. How long, I do not know either. But she cannot get pregnant and expect the child to live. She... she will have miscarriages. You cannot prevent that.”

The clone barely noticed his body was relaxing, that the hold on him was loosening. He still couldn't look away in fear Legion thought he was lying. But the longer he stared, the more he saw the shocked expression lighting up the eyes. Her face was paling, her body trembling in place. The dark atmosphere around them started to press down, a faint glow sparking to life around her frame. Mewtwo inwardly flinched at the growing anger, keeping himself from holding his breath.

Steadily, Mew limply lifted herself off him, hands curling so tightly, her claws broke the skin where little blood dripped through. Her lips pulled back from her clenched teeth, the slitted pupils shrank into the gray background as her eyes widened, and her tail sharply flicked.

“Are you serious?” Her voice was quiet and cold.

His vision wavered a little when he nodded.

She shook her head harshly. “You cannot be serious,” she snarled. “That cannot _be_. There is no way that can be plausible.” Then she suddenly tensed, snapping her head up as her gaze flitted to the side, her mouth agape. Mewtwo thought she noticed the water until he saw a drop of sweat run down her temple, even heard the breath catch in her chest. She was mute for a long moment before she shook her head once more. “...you lie. You both lie.”

Frowning, he turned to where the demon was staring at just to find nothing. However, right then and there, he could sense a familiar presence beside him. While he fretted over it, he took notice of a small weight on his shoulder, sending wave of warmth running through his limb.

Legion shortly snapped out after an awkward silence, “You were delusional over that baby! You _hated_ it, you did not want it! God answered your prayer, did He not?!”

Not a second later, his arms dropped to the floor. A wild look blazed in Mew's eye. “Get your paws off him! He is mine!”

And then, Mewtwo clearly heard her voice like she was right by his ear. “ _He was never yours, Legion, much like that body._ ”

He let out a small gasp and turned his head again. There was vaguely a faint outline he could see, levitating at his side. “...Mew?”

“ _You!_ ” He swerved back over to find Legion glaring at him. “You knew she was here! You stalled for time!”

“ _Leave Mewtwo out of this,_ ” was the cool demand.

“Shut up, bitch!” the demon screamed at the crystals.

“ _It is I you want, Legion! You are in_ _ **my**_ _body for a reason!_ ”

“Shut up! You are dead! DEAD!”

“ _If I am dead, how could I still bleed? How could I still have a heart in death? You do not have the right to end a life when you don't have a life yourself._ ”

“You lie, _lie_!” The impostor clutched Mew's head, pressing down her ears. “You cannot be here! You are in Prison for eternity! I placed you there myself!”

“ _Demons cannot judge spirits!_ ”

“I AM A DEMON LORD! I CONDEMN THE DAMNED!”

“ _Condemn me then, Legion! If I am damned as you say, condemn me!_ ”

“YOU HAD YOUR JUDGMENT! DAMNED, _DAMNED!_ ”

“ _You want judgment? Then kill me, Legion! Kill me!_ ”

Mewtwo finally stood up, unwilling to hear their screams a second further. “Legion, I beg of you, cease this torment! Let her come back into her body! Release her, please!”

“LIKE _HELL_ I AM!” Snapping Mew's head up, he unleashed a psychic attack that induced a blow to the clone's skull, cracking him into the spires at an angle. He slumped against them, wincing at the severe aches in his head and neck as his vision clouded over. The blood poured down the side of his face, a couple of rivers trickling into his eye and mouth. “I will not release her, but I _will_ take up on an offer or two!”

Wiping away the irritation, Mewtwo squinted in the hopes he still had some of his sight. When he was finally able to see, Legion was gone. He began panicking, sloppily pulling himself to his shaky feet.

“Legion! Mew!” he called out, leaning against the crystals. He hissed sharply, applying pressure to the arm, yet quickly brushed it aside. “Do not touch her, Legion! Where are you?!”

He winced when the echoes faded, and he dropped his gaze to the bottle. Carefully easing himself to his knees, he scooped it into his hand, eyes widening at the small puddle it had been lying in. Biting his lip, the clone held the vial up to the light, throat closing up to see it half-drained. Rubbing away any tears that welled up, Mewtwo stood up with a groan, then growled at the shot of pain in his arm. Clutching it tightly, he stumbled from spire to spire, flinching at the gleam from the Heart when he hurried by. The presence of Mew was still in the chamber, so he let it guide him out. The throbs in his head made him dizzy, and black spots popping up in his line of vision didn't help. With a moan, he rounded a corner, collapsing against the wall for ballast. Through the haze across his vision, he saw what appeared to be daylight not far ahead and quickened his pace, hoping he was close to the end.

When he reached the exit, he suddenly couldn't feel Mew in his heart, and his strength gave out on him. He coughed from the dust and exhaustion, struggling to lift his head off the ground. His sight evened out as he gaped at Legion floating there some feet ahead, leering down at him. There was a slight howl of wind rushing by, so Mewtwo hardly heard the demon say, “How the mighty have fallen.”

He shook his head to clear his ears before listening again. “Your beloved put up a long fight, Mewtwo. She is a valiant, strong woman, the finest of her kind, and I cannot keep up with her any longer. I am going to let her go now like you asked me to. Do me a favor and take good care of her.” Sighing, the demon raised a hand to rub the neck, then gave a wicked smirk. “That is, if you can catch her.”

Digging the claws into the flesh deeply, he slit Mew's throat. Dark, thick blood bubbled out onto the rocky ground before Mewtwo, some splashing on his pallid face. He watched horrifically as the devilish glare transitioned into a wide-eyed stare with a blink, the pupils disappeared from view; the evil laugh faded to an open-mouthed gasp; the erect, proud stance fell into a pathetic slump. Her head slowly lifted up to cross visions with him where he saw the light draining from the depths. Her lips wordlessly mouthed as she dropped from mid-air and disappeared beyond the cliff.

He had time to holler out her name before the winds carried it away.

 


	18. Confessions

“ _'_ _Among the nonsense tragedies, what on earth you are looking for?_

_You only have to be honest to yourself and your own fate'_

_Tell me why, or why not, complaining way too much_

_Maybe I overlooked something fatal for me”_

_\-- “Why or Why Not”, Oshima Hiroyuki,_ _ When Cicadas Cry _

*~*~*

_...it can't be..._

Everything had happened in such a blur, she just barely begun to catch on.

Things had gone downhill very fast when she decided to intervene, thinking she was giving him time to run or even fight back. Something got beyond her control—not that she _had_ any to begin with. He had pushed himself past his limits to look for her in the hopes he could bring her back, but he still had no power to convince the demon to let her go.

_...there is no way it can end like this._

Mew had found it difficult to register Mewtwo after Legion forced her back into her body. It could have been because he destroyed it to the point everything was disconnected in her. She lacked the life to remain conscious, but she fought to stay awake. From what she _had_ seen, he was now reduced to a wreck like she was, hardly able to stand and most likely not in his right state of mind. However, judging by the horror-stricken look on his face, something had gone wrong. She had no idea, however, what it was that would cause him to tremble like that. Or why it felt like she was falling from a long height.

The feline only stared blankly above her, unable to tell how real it all was. She had fallen out of trees before, though she was always asleep whenever it happened. She could vaguely remember those because of the dreams she would have of her suddenly dropping from the sky in mid-flight. Gravity was a very curious, surreal sensation, she honestly never thought much about it. Having flown all her life, it was nearly nonexistent, a fairytale, freedom specially for her. Now, as she fuzzily watched the rock formation rise higher and higher up, her hearing blocked out by the roar of wind, Mew felt she lost that right.

Faint images suddenly began to dart by, almost catching her off-guard—then again, it seemed natural. It was here the human expression “life flashes before their eyes” started making sense. Never had she thought she would ever experience it, having been portrayed as a scary thought to a neurological break-down. Strangely enough, she found comfort in the remembrance. Not one image stayed for a split second, but to her, they were there long enough for her to have a good look. She got to know them by heart, hoping there wasn't an end to the drop so she could see them all: good, bad, heartbreaking, frightening, everything. She didn't want to forget them.

What little breath she had was knocked out when she slammed into water, her vision darkening. Peaceful silence followed afterward to where her body finally relaxed and slowed down its descent. Her eyes began to droop, wanting to rid itself of the extra water, only to ache whenever she blinked, forcing herself to keep them open. Billowing in her sight, disturbing the beautiful shades of blue and green around her, was a cloud of red. It was everywhere no matter where she turned her head, dissolving into a lighter, thinner color. As heavy as she felt, the Legendary managed to lift her arm up, watching as the wound on her wrist emptied itself out to mix in with the water.

Then, her throat closed up without warning, choking her. She tightly covered her mouth, struggling to keep from breathing further. _No... this wasn't meant to happen..._ Her limbs flailed about in a half-attempt at swimming seconds too late. She had bled so much, her heart couldn't keep up with her survival instincts, thus killing her chances of escape and movement in general. She pitifully whimpered, weakly staring past her flowing tail up at the spindly rays of light.

When she blearily blinked, a vague image of Amber as a child appeared before her, gazing sadly at her. Feebly, Mew lifted her arms up in a wordless plea for aid. _Amber... I can't breathe... I thought I was going to live. You said I would..._

The girl gave her a small smile, reaching out for her hands. The feline could feel a physical brush against her skin, but dismissed it as her nervous system shortening out. Opening her mouth, the rush of water down her throat surprised her into a gasp, clogging up her airway. Gagging, her vision started to pop out of focus, feeling as though sand was replacing her bones to weigh her down. She grew frightful when her insides burned, the last of her blood throbbing in her veins.

And then, she fell limp, unable to do a thing except stare wide-eyed as her sight faded out. Just before the last of her senses failed her, she felt a familiar touch wrap around her waist and pull her forward.

*~*~*

He pulled her out of the water before climbing out himself, gasping for his breath. His body was still trembling from the dive, leaving him attempting to sit up, demanding for a long rest. Shaking the droplets from his face, Mewtwo coughed out a small chuckle, staring down at the prickly grasses.

“That was... quite the scare,” he sighed out hoarsely, pushing a hand against his chest to help slow down his panting. “Oh, Mew... can you hear me?”

With the exception of the slight rustle of leaves and small splashes from behind, he was met with silence.

Frowning, he looked over, swallowing nervously at how ashen she was, her face turned away from him. He cast his eyes about her tiny body, tensing at the watery wounds and blood that continued to slip out from them. He shakily clasped her up-turned paw, hoping the icy touch was from the water.

“Mew... look at me,” he murmured. “Are you okay?”

There was no movement to be seen except for her waving tail still partially submerged in the shallow end. His heart racing, he reached out to roll her head over. He froze when he met the empty stare of her dull, bloodshot eyes. Blood and water was pouring out of her mouth, her lips and surrounding skin blue except for the wounds. Lowering a quivering hand to her chest, his breath caught when he felt no heartbeat.

Shaking his head and muttering out a stream of “no”s, Mewtwo pressed his ear to her to hear for himself. “No! No, Mew!” Panicking, he held her up by the shoulders to shake her, only to pause and think for a moment.

He recalled his days of traveling and visiting human cities where he would come across accident scenes. It had always interested him to watch a human attempt to revive another, he had taken note of a few procedures that were used to bring a person back to consciousness. Of all of them, the most common next to the electric pads uniformed humans would rub together and press to the chest was a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation—which usually came first. The usage was wide-spread enough children learned it at a young age. He would look in on a few of those lessons whenever he came across it, though he convinced himself he would never use it. “Such a human practice,” he had stated it.

Gazing down at the limp body of his beloved, he swallowed down a lump. Unless he could come up with a better solution in a short amount of time, there was no other option. Sucking in a breath and closing his eyes tightly to review the information in his head, he lay her down and straightened her chin. Glancing down at his hand, he placed the palm down on her sternum. His brows furrowed in worry as he lifted his eyes to the heavens.

“God help me,” he breathed out, then pumped hard and fast as he dared.

Mewtwo was unclear at how long he was to compress the chest, he was still trying to dig that out of the memory archives. Anxious enough as he was, he stopped counting at fifteen and went ahead to move on to the next step. Tilting her head back and pinching her nose closed, he drew in a long breath and covered her mouth, blowing hard down into her lungs. Looking up in the hopes it worked, he became devastated when he saw no change. Blinking back his tears, he made sure he kept breathing in the hopes he would calm down.

“Repeat, Mewtwo,” he murmured to himself. “Keep going until she moves.”

With every compression and breath he exhaled into her, the more stressed he became. He easily lost count the longer his mind lingered on Mew's recovery slipping past his fingers. There was no indication she was responding, no other movements except for the inflation of her chest each time he breathed down to her empty lungs. His mind kept telling him to find some help, but he refused to stop, believing she was still there, still trapped in her own body. He was sure he wasn't doing it properly, whether in her reclining position or his methods, either way, he wasn't caring about accuracy by this point.

“Mew, stay with me!” he begged her in between puffs, vainly wiping his tears away. “Come back to me, Mew! You can't leave!” He threw his head back to scream, “God, don't take her from me! Bring her back!”

Native Pokémon peered out from their hideouts sorrowfully, though some couldn't watch his desperate actions any further. Mewtwo had caught glimpses of them whenever he whirled his head around in the hopes some help would come. He gripped his beloved's fur in frustration, unintentionally slowing down as sobs racked his body.

“This can't be,” he gasped out, shaking his head disbelievingly. “I-It can't be! I refuse to believe it! Mew... no... no...” Ceasing the pumping, he dipped his head down to breathe into her, only for him to pitifully moan into her lips, cupping her head tightly. Pulling back, he bitterly wept, leaning his forehead onto her cool skin.

Then, out of the blue, a thought popped into mind: _Start her heart._

He choked down his sobs before lifting his head up, trying to breathe normally. “Wha...?”

 _Start her heart,_ it came again, clearer this time.

He looked around, confused. “How...? W-Wasn't I already...?”

His hands suddenly moved on their own accord to slide down to her breast. _Focus the electricity into your hands, and shock her._

Mewtwo swallowed some more, gazing into Mew's blank eyes. “I-I don't know any—” he started to protest before the thought interrupted him.

_You are a Mew, half or not. You are just as capable of summoning various attacks like your wife._

His heart fluttered at the word, partially aware something was pushing down on his hands, keeping them glued to Mew's chest. As much as his full attention was on interpreting what the thoughts meant by “wife”, he shook his head to brush it aside for now. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and concentrated, searching inside for a trigger to charge up electricity. Seconds later, his skin tingled as a sensation flowed down his arms to circulate through his hands. He twitched at the tiny shocks he was receiving from it, tempted to pull away and risk interrupting the flow, only to will himself to keep body contact. When he was certain the voltage was high enough, Mewtwo pushed into her rib cage hard as he dared, and released the current.

Her body jerked, and a loud gasp escaped from her open mouth.

Startled, he pulled back when she roughly cleared the water from her lungs, and struggled for breaths between her gags. He watched the color slowly return to her eyes, feeling joy fill his heart. Wiping at his wet eyes, he smiled, then bent down to carefully kiss and caress her face.

“Oh, Mew... oh, thank God,” he whispered, pressing up against her forehead.

“M-M... Mewtwo...” she weakly wheezed out, reaching up for a feel.

“Shh-sh-sh, it's okay, dear,” he continued murmuring out, grasping her trembling paw. “Just breathe. Breathe for me.”

“Mewtwo... I-I...”

He hushed her again, gently laying a finger to her still-blue lips. “Just breathe for now, Mew.” Cautiously, he scooped her shivering body into his arms.

The moment he did, she suddenly let out an agonizing scream.

He gripped her tighter in response, to which she started to struggle, albeit weakly, clutching her chest. She wheezed some more when her body spasmed, and her eyes rolled. Mewtwo became horrified, uncertain whether to lay her back down or keep his hold on her. It frightened him not knowing what was going on. Grasping an arm, he gazed worriedly down at the wound, noticing with wide eyes there was little blood coming through. Upon glancing at her throat and face, he found it was the same thing.

She had lost too much.

Shaking his head, the clone desperately looked around for any tourniquets he could use, cursing the tears obscuring his vision. He squeezed her wrist tightly in the hopes he could help block the flow, but it only made her scream out even more.

“No, NO! You _can't_ die on me, Mew!” he hollered over her voice. “You _can't_ go! God has to kill me first before I let Him take you!” He cast his eyes above him, clutching Mew closer. “Why are You letting us suffer?! Kill _me_ if You want her so bad, but I'm begging You to spare her, please! I'm not living another life of solitude!”

Mewtwo looked down when she dug her claws into his chest. Her eyes were wide in fright, her gasps feeble and irregular between her teeth. Feeling helpless, he bent his neck to nuzzle her, allowing his tears to overflow. “I-I love this woman,” he shakily breathed out, “and You know it... Don't take her from me... p-please...”

He flinched when a slimy object brushed against his knee, and he whirled over to see a young Omanyte patting him with a tentacle. Clutched in another appendage was the vial, which it held up to him with a sad, hopeful gaze in its eyes. Giving it a small smile, he gratefully accepted it, murmuring a “thank you” before it backed away. He only stole a glance at the water inside before tearing the cork off with his teeth. Holding his breath, he held her chin down and raised the bottle to her lips. Unintentionally, she flailed again, the tormented cries grating to the ears.

Finding no other way to administer it to her without spilling, Mewtwo poured it into his mouth, letting it pool underneath his tongue. With little time to spare, he quickly bent down, and clasped tightly to her lips. Mew's struggles nearly caused him to dribble it all over themselves, then she almost choked when she swallowed it down.

Out of ideas and the vial now sunk in the shallow end of the lake, the clone remained where he knelt to endure his mate's screams, face buried into her chest. For what felt like the longest time, he refused to budge, silently weeping and praying in his heart for an end to her suffering. Painstaking as it was, her struggles slowed, and her cries of agony quieted down to whimpers. Her breathing began to even out once her heart picked up in rhythm.

Mewtwo waited before looking up, gingerly feeling her neck for a pulse. The faint, but steady throb under his touch changed his anxiety to relief to find she had fallen unconscious, most likely from exhaustion. Stroking her cheek, he lifted his head and took in the miracle that happened to Mew's body. The color was returning to her face with all of the gashes scabbing over nicely, her fur showing signs of a recovering sheen. He looked forward to seeing her eyes again.

The clone smiled, leaning in to breathe her in, ignoring the tainted scent of blood and dirt. Tearfully, he turned his gaze skyward, taking notice of how bright and warm the sunlight was. In the distance, there was a voice calling to him as he collapsed to the ground, but he paid it no heed.

Mewtwo squeezed her figure to him with the last of his strength, and with a sigh on his lips, he thanked God with all his heart until he blacked out.

*~*~*

_The moonlight reached down through the leaves to gently caress the couple where they lay. The male shielded his smaller, female counterpart in his shadow, not that he didn't want her bathed in silver. He wanted his fingertips to flesh her out for him, slowly drifting about her tiny form. Mew shivered in pleasure from both the touches and kisses, growing needy the longer their tails stroked. A long moan escaped her when he poked his finger into her mouth and allowed her to suck and lick it._

“ _Oh, Mewtwo... I didn't know you were so passionate,” she murmured breathlessly, gazing starry-eyed up at him._

_He grinned mischievously, teasingly running his tongue along her parted lips. “I am full of secrets,” he replied in a sultry growl._

_She trailed her fingers up his arm. “Can you share them with me?”_

“ _In due time, my love.” When she pouted, he chuckled, and rethought out his response. “But I suppose I can teach you **one** of them.”_

_Her ears perked up in interest, and she cocked her head. “And what would that be?”_

_Mewtwo tightly entwined their hands as he pressed himself against her breasts. Leaning in, he whispered seductively into her ear, “The power to scream to Heaven.”_

_Mew rose a brow, wriggling a little beneath him. “How is that possible?”_

_He grinned wider, eyes lighting up in excitement. “Well, my dear, since you asked, let me give you a taste.” He lowered a hand to spread her legs apart._

_She let out a surprised gasp, her knees closing up automatically, and her free paw shooting up to grasp his shoulder. “What are you...?”_

“ _Shh, just relax.” He tantalizingly stroked his fingers along her womanhood, watching her eyes widening and mouth dropping open into an “O”. Her gasps were quiet at first, her body slowly arching into his torso the longer he fondled. Then, when he intensified and found an opening, she started to breathe in labored puffs. Her hands tightened their grip as her body went taut and tossed about._

“ _Ohh! Oh, Mewtwo!” she exclaimed, fighting back louder cries._

_With a quiet chuckle in his throat, he ceased his caressing and slid his fingers out. “Was that good enough for you?”_

_She swiftly shook her head, panting. “No, no, that wasn't enough!” she whimpered. Sitting up, Mew snatched his arm. “I-I want more!”_

_Mewtwo tilted his head. “Well, this is rather peculiar of you. Is this normal female behavior by any chance?”_

“ _I-I don't know... but it felt so good!” she moaned. “Please, Mewtwo, do it again! Touch me again!”_

_He obliged without another word, and Mew let out a happy, sighing wail. She impatiently pressed his fingers harder into her and quickened the petting. Mewtwo frowned, having no control over his hand even when she had let him go. He wanted to stop, remembering horrible memories of the previous times he had handled her so roughly._

_Instead, he was startled to let out a small, deep laugh so unlike his own. “This is only the beginning of it, my dear,” he announced without consulting his inner self. “There is more where that came from.”_

_Her eyes widened even more and her breath caught, her full attention on him. “Th-There is?”_

_There suddenly was something off about Mew. Of all the years he knew her, she had never shown interest in anything sexual, if she even knew about it. He spoke again before he could think on it further. “Of course. Look down.” He hoisted himself up for the occasion._

_She did so, and immediately her jaw dropped when a blush burned into view. She mouthed in shock for the longest time, unable to tear her ogling gaze away. In the meantime, Mewtwo's thoughts went wild else where. **What is all this? What am I doing? Why is...? ...no... I thought I...**_

“ _Why, Mewtwo!” his counterpart's surprised gasp pulled him back. She stared up at him, half-excited and half-worried. “It'll never fit! You're too big for me!”_

_His heart flipped, even though he let out a lusty growl. He dipped in to lock lips, giving her a fanged grin. “That is when you scream,” he purred huskily._

_Then he fell upon her and rammed himself up inside, the scent of bloodshed exciting him. Her voice caught from shock, only able to let out cries of felicity after she grew accustomed to his thrusting. She squeezed a leg into his side, and threw her head back for better audibility, every moan and scream echoing into the night. With a shiver, her star-studded eyes fluttered shut as her mouth opened wider, letting out an exclamation just as white light enveloped them._

“ _MEW **TWOOOO!** ”_

Mewtwo's eyes immediately shot open, a gasp dying on his lips as the image faded. He remained frozen where he lay, trying to recover from the dream. Though the lust washed out of his body the moment he woke up, he caught it in time for him to realize he was quaking from it, the throb between his legs swiftly fading. He moved to raise a hand to his forehead, only to wince from a sharp pain running through his arm. Looking down, he blinked at the hand-made sling, then at the leafy bandages wrapped around his upper build. Slowly, he sat up, groaning doing so. His free paw massaged his temples just to find his head, too, was bandaged.

His mind returned to what he had just dreamed of, reviewing over the images of Mew beneath his body, gasping with pleasure. It had been a few days, if not less, since he last remembered dreaming, and depending on which one was real, and the other one _being_ a dream, it continued where he left off: ready to penetrate through her virginity. He had forgotten about the dreams (which he figured was for the best), feeling like his shame had gone to great heights to finally get it out of his system. However, possibly because of Legion's advances, his subconscious restored the lusty dreams.

He jumped in surprise when Cresselia came into view, a joyful smile on her face. “You're awake! Oh, thank goodness!”

Taking a sharp breath to calm himself down, he brought on a smile of his own. “Where did you come from?” he stupidly mumbled.

She felt his forehead. “You're still a little warm. You just woke up, too, so that adds to your delusion...”

“What? Cress, can you fill me in on this?”

Her gaze became sad when she pulled back, clasping her paws to her chest. “You've been out since late afternoon yesterday. Mesprit says you were suffering from head trauma, possibly from when you landed in the water. But you have to have fallen from a long height... it's what happened with Mew.”

He managed to only catch parts of her explanation due to a piercing headache shooting through that very moment. It was when he heard her mention Mew that he grew alert, and his thoughts redirected. “Mew! Where is she? How is she?”

Cresselia backed away a little at the sudden request, blinking in surprise. “Sh-She's doing fine... still asleep, though.”

“Where is she?” he asked more firmly.

“Mewtwo, you just got up. Rest a little longer before you go see her.”

“I want to see her.”

She vigorously nodded. “I-I know you do, but she's in no condition for visitors right now.”

He scowled, and proceeded to stand on his feet against her wishes. When he attempted to take a step forward, he wobbled dangerously, falling into the swan's hold. “Mewtwo, please!” she nearly shouted, clearly anxious. “You need to recover! Mew will still be there when I release you!”

He pushed her back, attempting to straighten up. “Please, Cress, let me see her.”

“I'm just as worried about her as you are!” Cresselia snapped out, snatching his arm. “She shouldn't even be _alive_ right now!”

Mewtwo ceased his struggling, gawking down at her. Slowly, she loosened her grip on him and hung her head, tears brimming in her eyes. She resumed, her voice dropped to a murmur, “Her wounds are very deep, I'm surprised they are healing over. Even more incredulous, Mesprit is absolutely sure she was low on blood because of that. She worried all night over her to make sure she wasn't going to have a heart attack, if she already didn't have one. E-Even more shocking... her back is very bruised... she may have broken it, but we found no signs to indicate it. And... the head trauma... We were also worried about brain damage, s-so...”

The clone turned away, closing his eyes tightly to take a long breath. In his mind's eye, he recalled the image of Mew's body, broken and bloodless, beyond all help and recovery. But when she did return to consciousness, regaining her soul back, he had nearly neglected the amount of pain she was in. She was pleading for an end to it all, whether for aid or death, he didn't know which. He wondered, though, if what Cresselia said was true, that her being alive was cruel...

His heart sank. “No... that cannot be true,” he mumbled to himself. “I thought a small consumption can still heal...”

She lifted her head with a sniffle. “Pardon?”

He swept his eyes about his surroundings. It was barely recognizable being bare as it was—the walls and floor were clearly made of wood, possibly mahogany—and there was an empty walk-in closet. When he glanced back to see he had been laying on a mattress (covered with leaves and grasses for some odd reason), his mind clicked and identified it as a room—a human's room.

Turning to the lunar swan questionably, she replied softly, “This was the closest shelter we could find. We looked for a Pokémon Center in the off-chance there was still medicine there, but we couldn't find one. Latias luckily found this place, we just had to quickly dust the rooms and, um... fix up the beds before bringing you two in.” She twiddled her paws. “It was like this when we arrived—we didn't raid anything, we swear.”

Mewtwo cracked a smile at her feeble statement, then turned his attention to the door. “Which room is Mew in?”

Cresselia didn't bother to argue this time. “She's right next door. Mesprit or Latias might be in there with her.”

“I wish to be alone with her,” he requested, shakily walking forward.

She moved to catch him, only to be shaken off. “O-Okay, Mewtwo,” she sighed. “They won't be happy, but I'll let them know.” With a quick glance at him, she hurried out, leaving the door wide open.

Steadily, the psycat regained his balance enough he exited without much difficulty, ducking his head to avoid the frame. A few feet away was another room, the entrance welcoming him in. Sucking in another breath, he walked in just to pause at the doorway. Beneath the window, Mew lay on a similar mattress, covered in enough leaf bandages for him to mistaken them as a body cast. A cautious approach to her bedside showed she was peacefully sleeping, making the scene less frightening. The sunlight trickling in smoothed out her exposed face almost dreamily, brightening up the rosy tint of her fur.

Once he crossed the room, he fell to his knees to hesitantly lay a hand on her warm forehead. He gently pet her, fighting to keep his tears back. “Mew... oh, Mew...” Mewtwo choked on an escaping sob, shaking his head. “I-I am so sorry. This... this is all my doing... it has to be. I mean, I... I started it. S-Somehow, I started this reaction from the very beginning. I do not know how... but I know I am _most_ responsible for this.”

He glanced at a dark corner with a shiver. “Had I actually done my very best after your... miscarriage... if I had known at the time it happened, I would have taken you out of the Tree. I do not know why that thought had never crossed my mind since I was thrown out every time I arrived... but it was stupid on my part. I should have just carried you out and taken you somewhere else. At least you would not have been alone for a long period of time...”

Scooping up her closest paw into his, he finally wept when he felt the pulse. “I-If I had known about the kiss... maybe then... maybe this would never have happened. Had I gotten your permission... we would be happier, I-I would think. Maybe... by some miracle...” He reached out to touch her belly, only to let his hand hover inches above her, and slowly trace an arch. “...I can see you resting... making guesses on what it would look like... and coming up with names. It would be not too simple, but not too exotic, either... it has to be perfect.” He couldn't help smiling at the thought. “I would pick the boy names, and you the girl names... and then argue over which one is the best on both sides. And out of frustration, we would just end up choosing a different name without thinking, and it would stick.”

His snickers didn't last very long, quietening down to inner sobs. He rested his head on his uninjured arm, keeping a good hold on her hand. “Please stay with me, Mew,” he murmured, running a finger along her wrist. “I am sick of a life of solitude... Sick of sleeping alone and waking up alone... Sick of traveling alone, with no one to talk to... I do not want any more souls I have hurt haunting me, no more blood on my hands. Please... get better...” Mewtwo leaned in to gently brush a kiss to her forehead.

She stirred before he pulled away, causing his heart to flutter in happiness and worry. She blinked several times up at him, notably confused, though she lit up immediately when they made eye-contact. “Mewtwo...”

He nodded, and cupped her face. “How are you feeling?”

She frowned, brows knitting in agony when she attempted to sit up. “It hurts,” she noted, her voice hoarse.

“It will for a while, Mew.”

She scanned him for a quick moment, slowly raising a hand to skim along the bandages. “You look really hurt.”

He flinched when he tried to move his other arm, having nearly forgotten about his injuries. “I will be fine. I am more worried about you right now.”

Mew shook her head just to regret it. “I'm not that important...”

“You are to me.”

She shivered, glancing away and catching her breath. “Just... go, please. Take care of yourself first.”

“I am not leaving you alone again.”

She let out a gasp when he bowed in to kiss her. Her paws flew up to grasp at his face, knowing the physical touch was real, but wanted to double check. It was strangely passionate for a light kiss, almost like he was catching up to date on her—there was the hint of a hungry growl in his throat when he let out a sigh on parting. They gazed at each other for a few seconds until he closed the space again, easing into a deeper kiss.

It was cut short when his hand stroked down her neck, causing her to whimper and shudder. “Don't touch me there!” she gruffly mewled the second she broke away from him, covering her sore area.

Mewtwo fell back to avert his gaze, brows furrowed. “Sorry...”

He shifted uncomfortably under her scrutinizing stare, remorse stirring in his core. It was hard to tell what she was thinking of, though he was more anxious about if she knew of their predicament. Carefully, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, only to tremble more and let out a sound of complaint.

He immediately leaped to her aid. “Where do you hurt, Mew? Is something wrong? Do you need anything?”

She shook her head, blushing furiously. “No... I, um... I-I need to go.”

Mewtwo's eyes slightly widened, a twinge of fear stinging his heart for a moment. “Go where, Mew? You need to recover, you cannot go anywhere.”

“No, not that. I mean I need to _go_ , as in...” She twirled her hands around, then squeezed them together. “...you know? To empty my bladder?”

It took him a split second to get what she meant. Once the realization hit him, he nodded with an “Oh! Oh, I see!”, and scooped her carefully into his arm.

Mew, wriggling in discomfort, tried to pry his hold away from her. “Mewtwo, I can float on my own.”

“You do not know that.” He lumbered out to find the house's exit.

“I do too!” She barely stole a glance at the empty furniture each time he peeked into each room. “Where are we, anyway?”

“In some abandoned human house,” he simply said, spotting a door across what looked to be the main room. “I do not know where it is, but Latias found it.”

The feline managed a smile. “Gotta hand it to Latias for staking out these places.”

Mewtwo chuckled as well, opening the door. They peered out, taking note of the gray forest before them and the cloudy weather. It was faint, but there was the scent of pine on the breeze. Out a yard away were the other Legendaries, quietly standing around, looking at nothing in particular. Latias, nervous as she was, immediately spun around and let out an eccentric squeal of “MEW, YOU'RE AWAKE!” as she rushed for her. She nearly knocked down the clone grabbing her friend tightly and spinning her around while sobbing hysterically.

The others hurried over to rescue Mew, and give her and Mewtwo remarks of gratitude. Naturally, the females swarmed together, hardly allowing other males to say two words to her. The psycat grinned nervously at the attention and their blended voices of concern, attempting to slip through the crowd to reach the group of eight. He didn't get far when his mate managed to cry out over their voices “Girls, I have to pee!”, bringing the joyous occasion to an awkward halt.

The Eon Dragon, who never once let her go (though her hold had loosened up), exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, you should have said something!”

Mew fidgeted in place, though she managed a smile for her as she rubbed her bandaged throat. “I tried...”

“Oh, I'm so sorry, Mew! I'll take you as an apology, and because you're my best friend and I love yooou!” She nuzzled her at the end with a sniffle.

“For heaven's sake, take her into the woods!” Mesprit shooed at her. “Poor thing's already close to bursting!”

Without another moment to spare, Latias pulled her along, bubbling on about what had happened during her three-day absence. Once the two disappeared, everyone's attention turned over to Mewtwo, the females moving to give him hugs or happy nudges.

“Glad to have you back,” Suicune said with a grin.

“So I did not break your back after all,” he pointed out jokingly.

She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “You're not _that_ heavy.”

Deoxys butted in with a joyful “ _MAN HUG!_ ”, throwing his arms around the clone and patting his back roughly. “ _Mewtwo, buddy, don't you_ _ **ever**_ _scare us like that again! If you do, I'll kill you, got it?_ ”

He awkwardly pushed him back, though he maintained his smile. “I will keep that in mind.”

The alien then gave a lop-sided gaze. “ _So, are you still worn out from your three-day escapade with Mew?_ ”

The group let out disgruntled groans and called him out on it, and a few reached out to smack him. “Dammit, Deoxys, did you _have_ to make that joke?” Lugia groaned, face-palming. “Sheesh, you're insensitive...”

“ _I'm trying to lighten the mood here!_ ”

Mewtwo just patted him on the shoulder. “Good to see you are still yourself,” he sighed, shaking his head.

“ _See? He understands._ ”

“Now if you excuse me, I have to relieve myself,” he added, watching Deoxys tense up with slight amusement.

He swiveled around, his expression crossed between confusion and horror. “ _Oh good God, you've got to be kidding!_ ”

It took a few moments for the group to realize what he meant. “Not _that_ , gutter-brain,” Zapdos grumbled with an exasperated sigh.

“Need someone to go with you?” Entei offered with a dopey grin.

“...No, I can manage on my own. But just to be on the safe side, wait ten minutes before coming to check up on me.” Mewtwo promptly disappeared into the forest.

...though he rethought on the request when he _finally_ found a running river to clean himself in after a few minutes. He wasn't familiar with the area, and he realized he needed to scavenge some food for Mew and himself (if no one else had anything set aside for them). Brushing aside the hunger pangs, he noted the water wasn't calm enough for a good reflection, so he couldn't fully see how terrible he looked. Which he figured was for the best, he didn't want to start worrying over himself.

Unsure of how long he had been gone, he decided to head back, keeping an eye out for any fruit or edible roots he could come across. He figured he had gotten turned around in his search for the river until he heard arguing in the distance. With a shrug, he let it be his guide, keeping a straight path back to the campsite. To his dissatisfaction, despite having secretly missed it (most of it), much of the group were verbally chewing each other out for “inappropriate behavior”, with complaints of “I say we go back” or “stay here”, and “you never keep your mouth shut” among other things. Those few who wished to remain out of it stood underneath a pine tree, worriedly whispering to themselves.

Mewtwo went ahead to approach them. Shaymin shot him a smile when she glanced over. “Ten minutes like you said,” she said, sounding a little pleased. “Any problems?”

“None at the moment.” He tilted his head at the others. “What did I miss?”

Her face faltered. “You haven't noticed, have you?” she sadly murmured.

“Noticed what?”

She directed her gaze to the crowd. “We've been cut in half, somewhat.”

His heart jumped, and he scanned the Legendaries, mentally counting them and checking off names. His eyes widened the moment he realized faces weren't among them. “Where... what happened?”

“Jediah and his followers were too strong for us,” Mesprit melancholically replied. “We were forced to retreat into the Tree until they suddenly fell back. They managed to capture some of us in the group, though: Ho-oh, Celebi, Azelf, Jirachi—”

Articuno joined in the count with her sister and Uxie, “Rayquaza, Raikou, Regice, Regigigas, Dialga, Palkia...”

“And Manaphy,” Shaymin finished solemnly. “We were aware they were gone the moment we were no longer being chased. But then we heard you, and we temporarily forgot about them.”

Mewtwo, as horrified as he was at the report of their missing friends, suddenly grew ill at the reminder of his encounter with Legion. “You heard me?” he echoed.

They nodded. “We ran out to see where it came from and saw you and Mew falling,” Moltres recalled. “You two were pretty far apart... but we could see you were reaching out for her. Then you two hit the water, and we immediately looked for a safe way down. I mean, the majority of us can fly, we could have just swooped in to your rescue, but we were weak... Lame excuse, really...”

“I think it was for the best, to be honest with you,” Uxie gave his insight. “If we had attempted the rescue, Mew may be in a worse spot.”

Shaymin hung her head, then walked closer to Mewtwo before bowing in apology. “You were right in looking for Mew... I-If we had waited any longer...” She shivered and glanced up shamefully. “I was right in that you probably would have died from shock if she turned out to have been dead. But... to have her still alive after all this... it's a miracle. She changed you, Mewtwo. You are different than you were... when I last saw you years ago.” She cracked a tiny smile. “I'm sorry for not believing in you, Mewtwo. I nearly cost her her life.”

The clone knelt down and scooped her up into his hand, marveling at how tiny and light Shaymin was. “There is no reason to apologize,” he assured her. “You are forgiven, you meant well. Even if I had told you I could feel her in my heart, you would have insisted I listened to you. I understand you try your best to be a leader, and to look out for us. You are still learning, so you have to make mistakes. Even if one of or all of us were to die, no matter what, I would not put the blame on you, nor on your leadership.”

The hedgehog's cheeks warmed, and she tiptoed forward to nuzzle against his jaw. Mewtwo let out a small chuckle, pressing her close like he would for a hug. Then he gently lowered her down, noticing she had become a little healthier all of a sudden. Almost immediately, a small pink flower popped into view, making him and the others who witnessed it to quietly gasp.

Shaymin wriggled a little, gazing up at them with a tearful smile. “It's been a long time since I felt true gratitude. It's one of the most beautiful feelings in the world... next to love, I believe.”

Nodding, Mewtwo turned to face the rest, who stood where they were, silently watching. He noted a few were holding back water works, gazing in wonder at the blossom sticking out of Shaymin's fur. It saddened him to know they had friends who missed out on the small miracle, but he prayed in his heart there would be more opportunities like this in the future.

There came movement in the corner of his eye, and he looked to see Latias approach him alone. He became concerned, almost standing up in a flash until she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Mew wants to see you,” she whispered in his ear.

It lowered his anxiety enough he nodded, and stood up. Excusing himself, he walked into the part of the forest Mew had gone to. He started to shiver the moment his friends were out of sight (though he heard Latias gleefully compliment Shaymin's flower), feeling something was rather odd about her behavior.

“Mew, you wanted to see me?” he cautiously called out.

She came into view from behind a tree, looking a little jittery, albeit somber. Some of her bandages were off so she didn't look like a mummy anymore, though he wondered if she was supposed to be removing them so soon. Keeping her eyes down, she took his hand, which he noticed was a little cold to the touch.

“I found our place,” she mumbled, pulling him along. Her voice may have been lowered, but he noticed she didn't sound as groggy as before.

He tilted his head curiously. “'Our place', Mew?”

She briefly glanced over her shoulder. “Where we can be alone.”

“But the others—”

“Latias will let them know. I told her we won't be gone for the whole day. Hopefully.” Mew tightened her grip and quickened their pace.

Mewtwo frowned, getting the prickling sense of déjà vu. “Care to tell me your plans, Mew?”

“What plans?” she immediately blurted out, keeping her eyes on the road and tensing a little. “This was just a random thought. I wanted to talk.”

“We can talk here.” He attempted to slow down.

She tugged at him. “No, I-I want to be alone.”

“We _are_ alone.”

“No, I want to be _alone_ alone! No, I mean—!” She swiftly spun around to grasp his shoulders. He winced at her leer, though her eyes softened when they made eye-contact. Nervously biting her lip, she slowly lifted a paw to lightly skim the bandages, the touch electrifying. “This is my fault,” she breathed out. “Everything... I-I screwed it up... I worried you all sick with my illness.”

Mewtwo shook his head. “It was not your fault, Mew.”

“It is, Mewtwo,” she firmly said, dropping her arms. “I was naïve, and foolish... I refused to grow up.”

While he knew what she meant, he wanted to hear it for himself. “What do you mean?”

She winced, then picked at the leaves on her cheeks. “Physically, I'm a mature adult. That was what I was immortalized as. Mentally, I... technically _am_ , but I wasn't happy with it. I had been so depressed at that time, I nearly neglected my duties my first year. S-So... I made the decision to, well, be childish.” Mew's brows knitted in discomfort when she swallowed, her gaze dropping. “I love children, I watch over them a lot. I love how they're just so happy all the time. I wanted that... I wanted to be childlike, but there is that glaring difference between being childish and childlike... I learned that a long time ago...”

He had a feeling he knew what she was talking about, but held his tongue about it.

“...Mewtwo... you need a woman to be your mate, not a child,” she continued, her voice low. “You are just that kind of person. You're not one who easily opens up to others... so choosing a mate has to be the toughest decision of your life. It has to be someone with whom you will spend your life with, and be loyal to, and raise children with. She is to be your best, and closest friend... which is where the trust comes in.”

Mewtwo fought back a gasp when her tail curled around his, the bulbous end gently stroking the tip as she drifted closer. “It has to be the most awkward feeling in the world, to know you and your best friend are intimately close. But I suppose it's different between mates. I mean, I wouldn't know, since I haven't mated. Yet.”

The clone nearly backed away when Mew turned to wrap her arms around his neck. He had to avoid breaking eye-contact in fear that if he did look away, she would turn out to be Legion, and the world around him would melt away to reveal they were still in the Tree.

“What's the matter?” she asked, becoming exceedingly worried. “You look a little pale.”

Gulping down a few breaths, he leaned his forehead against hers before he would close his eyes. “Nothing, Mew,” he whispered. “I will be fine.”

“It's because I mentioned sex, isn't it?”

“It really has nothing to do with you, honestly.”

Her fingers curled around to the back of his head, inducing him to flinch. “Honey, please calm down. I'm going to need your cooperation for this.”

He quickly looked up. “You need what?”

“Keep your eyes closed,” she added. “Can you clear your mind for me very quick?”

“Mew, no, not while you are still weak,” he immediately protested. “Teleporting is not what you should be doing.”

She frowned slightly. “You don't look like you can continue walking.”

“You have head trauma from falling into the water and nearly drowning,” he stated, which made her recoil. “You are in no condition for this. As a matter of fact, we should not even _be_ out here. We should be in that house recovering right now.”

Mew hung her head, tears visible in her eyes. “Mewtwo, I want us to be alone,” she whimpered.

“But _why_?” he emphasized. “ _Why_ do you want us to be out here? What is so important that you just cannot have the others around?”

Without another word, she crushed her lips to his, and a flash of light engulfed them. He was briefly aware of the sense of traveling rushing by them, but he was too surprised by her sudden kiss to think much on it. All he knew was the very next moment, he lost his balance and fell on Mew, who let out a hurtful cry, and he had a headache.

She screamed again. “Mewtwo, get off!” she gasped out.

He sat up, watching her curl in pain as she struggled for breath. Sweeping her into his arm, he looked around, his eyes widening at the familiarity of the scenery. He recognized the lake and waterfall immediately.

“Pryce Falls,” he muttered, a chill running down his spine.

Mew followed his gaze, massaging her ribs. “Yes. This is our place, Mewtwo... Our get-away spot, you can say.”

Shaking his head, he inquired hurriedly, “What makes you say that, Mew?”

She took an irregular breath, wincing a little. “It may have just been in your dreams, Mewtwo... but our spiritual bonding was real... even if it was scary. So it would be appropriate for us to bond physically here.”

His eyes widened. “Mew... y-you cannot be...”

“We were almost separated for good, Mewtwo. Even if it was still my body, it wouldn't have been the same.” She slipped out of his hold to smooth her fingers over his lips. The moment he gasped, she slightly poked them in to skim along his teeth. “It was three days, wasn't it? It's amazing how much things have changed in three days.” Going further in, she touched his tongue, which he withdrew back.

With a frown, she pushed herself away, floating to the middle of the lake. Looking past her shoulder, she waved him over. “Come wash up with me, dear,” she invited. “We're a little dirty.”

Mewtwo was torn with himself over what to do. He wanted to return back to the others, knowing they would be safer with them than alone; the other half, however, wanted to stay, trusting her decision, and _that_ half had two sides of the issue. Not wanting to hurt her, he went ahead to go along with it. Carefully, he stepped into the water, though he almost refused to advance further due to the cold temperature.

Mew smiled at the sight, and came to assist him. “It's no hot spring, but it'll have to do,” she whispered to him with a giggle.

He blushed a little through his shivering. “Are you sure we should be getting wet, what with our injuries?”

“We can always get new leaves if they fall off.”

He gave her a questioning look. “Do you even know how to wrap bandages?”

“I've practiced.”

It was a harsh answer, he noted. A sting struck in his chest for a few seconds before it faded, and a single word came to mind.

_Liar._

Whether it was his own or hers, he didn't know. He went ahead to push that subject further. “How often were you hurt in your life?”

She shot him a glare. “Why does it matter?” she grunted. “I was accident-prone as a kitten, I bled a lot. Gave me an excuse to learn to tie knots.” Glancing down to see Mewtwo was nearly torso-deep in the water, she shoved him over.

He came up to the surface very quickly. “What was that for?!” he spluttered. “I only have one functioning arm, Mew!”

She felt a little bad, but just gave a small shrug. “Oops?”

Glowering, he snatched her tail and wrenched her into the water. She hardly was submerged, though she clung to his arm with a squeal. “Oh, God, it's cold!”

Mewtwo smirked. “I thought you love swimming.”

“I d-don't swim in cold water often! And even if I did...” She pushed him again. “You're such a jerk!”

“You started it.” He dunked her.

She used her tail to splash him. “You pissed me off!”

“Not on purpose.” He lightly sprinkled her.

Mew wrapped her arms around herself with a huff, squeezing her eyes shut. “Yeah, well... you scare me sometimes.”

His brows rose a little. Somehow, he wasn't too surprised by her statement. He knew he was an intimidating figure, having even been told by a few others he was frightening. It was prideful of him to accept it, but as he became more peaceful, his expressions had softened up and it got harder and harder to anger him.

“How exactly?”

She paused in mid-shrug, a little unsure herself. “Well... there's the usual things. But lately... ever since our kiss in Mount Quena... I've felt your stares, your presence no matter where you were. You were pretty much everywhere for some time. Um... and I've been having dreams...”

“What kind of dreams?”

The heavy blush made her shudder, so she went silent, turning her back on him. She twirled her hand in a circular motion in the water in an attempt to get her mind off the question. Mewtwo, though he was sure she was trying to avoid answering, became more concerned the longer he waited. The instant he touched her, she gave a frightened gasp and dove into the water. He watched her swim in the direction of the waterfall before disappearing. Not wanting her out of his sight for long, he waded toward it, taking care not to slip. He stared up the length of the falls thinking she climbed up it until he scanned the cliffside. A little suspicious, he passed through the water to find a cavern. It wasn't very deep and just scarcely taller than him, but Mew was there, huddled in the far corner. On the ground at the entrance were the stripped bandages, torn in pieces as a sign she had struggled to take them off.

Sorrowfully, he crawled in after her. Gazing at her exposed scarred wrists, he couldn't help reaching out to grasp them. To his relief, she squeezed back. “Please don't judge me, Mewtwo,” came her muffled whimper. “I couldn't control those dreams. They just came, I couldn't do anything.”

He nodded, running a thumb along her hand. “I understand, Mew... I have had dreams as well.”

She peeked out with wide, watery eyes. “You did?”

“Yes. They were vivid and rather sequential, in a way. I never had them until after... Well, I previously had dreams with you in them, but they were never like this.”

When she lifted up her head, he found himself gawking at the dark scabs streaking down her face. She fidgeted under his stare, rubbing her knuckles on her cheek. “You dream about me?”

Mewtwo hung his head sheepishly. “They vary from time to time, but yes.”

Mew slowly shifted to her knees, tightening her hold on him. He had to avert his eyes from her neck. “What about these recent ones? What were they about?”

His throat clogged up as though it was preventing him from spilling out his dark secret. For a long moment, he struggled to get his voice out, to tell her the truth, to end the nightly torments. Finally, he managed to get a word out, if only reluctantly.

“...S—Sex.”

It was deathly quiet in the cavern, even the thunderous waterfall seemed to have lost its voice. The two could only stare at each other and breathe, unable to drop eye-contact or their hands. Mewtwo felt an icy chill numb his body and anchor him to the floor. He was sure his heart stopped beating, and that he lost his soul. He felt unworthy to be kneeling before Mew, wanting to run off to where she couldn't find him again. She didn't deserve him any longer.

As painful as it was, he watched her lean back in shock, her hands beginning to release him. “Sex... Mewtwo?”

Now that he had nothing more to hide, he maintained his gaze and slowly nodded. “That was the premise of them,” he murmured. “But... as erotic as the dreams were, the intercourse did not happen... until today. I suppose it is because I was so close to losing you, the dream went ahead to finish it like it was afraid that if you died, it would die with you. And... it is almost like it _knew_ how devastated I would be if you did. As perverted as it sounds, Mew... I was becoming addicted to it.”

She visibly shuddered, but kept her eyes on him. Mewtwo swallowed, reaching out to skim his shaking fingers along her cheek, inwardly grateful she didn't flinch, though her brows knitted in concern. Her eyelids fluttered shut from the touch, a clenched hand resting on her heart.

“I-I want you so bad,” he continued, vainly fighting back his grief as she glanced back up, dropping his hand to her shoulder, “but it cannot happen physically. So I had to resort to fantasies. I-It is a lust... these dreams only prove I cannot love... I can only lust. But I know I love you! I do not want just your body, Mew, I want all of you!” They both flinched from the echoes, but he kept on with his declaration. “I want your heart, your soul, your love, everything! I have been tormented with this for so long, I can fight it no longer! I almost lost you! I do not care if we _are_ eternal, I want you here with _me_!”

The clone buried his face into her scabbing neck to weep, holding her close. She made no movement that suggested he was unwelcome to her, but that didn't calm him down, having now lost control of his emotions. Out of sadness and fright, he pressed hot kisses to her face just as his hand slid over to grope about her chest. Her fingers dug into him when he did, a tiny mewl escaping her. He barely registered it, and he continued to push his emotional distress on her. Conflicted with himself about whether or not to press her into the wall, Mewtwo muttered incomprehensibly to himself in between breaths.

Mew felt her wounds throb painfully every time his lips brushed her skin, making her flinch from the burning sensations they would leave. She snatched at his fingers as they kneaded her, and led them to her face where, while he did slow, his antsy digits massaged her cheek. A moan managed to find its way out of her throat, provoking him to kiss her mouth, having mistaken it for a pleasing sound.

But it sealed their fate. She couldn't fight it anymore.

Her lips cut into him with a passion, her tiny paws cupping his head to keep him in place. She heard him grunt in frustration, and when she trailed a hand to his shoulder, she remembered his arm stuck in a sling. It was an unfortunate disability they both would have to deal with. Returning to his face, she clawed at a bandage, trying not to scratch him doing so. Mewtwo moved to kiss her throat, causing her to shiver when he breathed over the claw marks. Hoisting herself up, she tilted his head before easing him to the ground. She knelt over him, fingering the gauze on his chest.

They gazed at each other as they panted, trembling at their wandering touches. Swallowing, Mew leaned in to touch noses. “Oh, Mewtwo... I-I don't know how it's possible, but... it is highly likely you and I were having the same dreams.”

He quietly gasped in surprise. “You...? But... you are so... I did not think...”

“It was these dreams that have kept me up all night. They frightened me. I was worried I was developing lusty feelings, if that's what lust feels like. I didn't want that... I wanted to have a pure love for you.” She frowned, running a hand across his brows. “But... is it possible to lust after your own mate? I hope that we aren't mates because of that. I want it to be of love like everything should be.”

She gazed down at how they were positioned, then looked at his hand. Taking it into her own, she studied its size before closing her lips over a finger. Mewtwo's eyes widened, watching her attempt to widen her mouth to further insert it. She barely got the knobbed tip in when she pitifully whined and pulled it out. A look of slight disappointment was etched on her face, and she sighed.

“Look at us, Mewtwo... What is this? Is this instinctive? Is it love? Lust? I can't tell anymore... I'm almost convinced the dreams are just that: dreams. There really is no way you can... well...” She dropped his hand, a slight blush on her cheeks.

“Mew...” He attempted to sit up.

She stopped him with a gentle touch. “Dear... I want you much like you want me. But that shouldn't be. No... there's a deeper meaning behind all of this, I know it. What proves to us we are in love, that we chose each other for a reason? What makes us who we are?” She straightened up, and resumed to fingering the leaves. “Mewtwo... you aren't all lust like you say you are. You have in your heart love like all of us do. It was planted in there when you were very small. Tell me...” her voice hesitated for a moment, “do you remember a girl named Amber?”

His lips pursed as he shook his head. “The name is not familiar.”

Mew let out a sad sigh. “She was right,” she murmured. “You don't remember her... but I'm surprised you don't recognize that love. It could have been because your sadness hid it away, and your anger may have corrupted it. Still, your heart may remember, which may be why you were willing to accept humanity, if reluctantly. And later, friendship... then love.”

Mewtwo slowly raised his hand to lay it against her forehead. “Are you feeling okay, Mew?”

She shrugged him off. “Mewtwo, I have a small favor to ask of you.”

“Anything.”

“...I want you to prove your love to me. If you truly love me, don't tell me. Just show me.” Then she gave him a light kiss before crawling off him.

He carefully sat up, gazing down at Mew with a slightly puzzled look. She frowned a little, and sat back against the wall, rubbing her arms. With a slight shiver, Mewtwo scooted to the opposite wall, gazing thoughtfully out the mouth of the cavern. Her request made sense, but he didn't know how to do it, or what to show her. Somehow, he felt a little rushed, almost like everything hung on the balance. Looking past the waterfall, he stared closely at the tree across the field, eyes steadily widening upon recognition. Shooting her an aside glance, he slipped outside and waited until he was on solid ground before running over to it. Pausing under its shade, he felt a smile on his lips to find it still bearing fruit. Plucking off a few, he hurried back to the waterfall, trying to squeeze into the cave without getting the berries wet.

The feline looked up at his arrival, brows raising questionably when he shook the droplets off his face. With a smile of assurance, Mewtwo knelt before her to lay his find down. Mew couldn't fight a shudder as she stared at the Lum berries, but she was embarrassed when her stomach growled. He nodded down at them, giving her first pick.

Grabbing the nearest one and feeling the weight in her hands, she raised it to her mouth and bit out a good-sized chunk. In her mind's eye, she recalled her recovery in the Tree so many months back, bringing her pause. The clone raised his brows in alert and leaned forward, startling her back to the present and forcing her to shake her head with red cheeks. Though when she swallowed, Mew pressed a paw to her throat with a wince and moan.

“Are you having problems?” he asked in concern, still moving closer.

She raised her hand to stop him. “I'm okay,” she croaked out. “Just a sore throat...”

Trailing off, the feline's thoughts turned to her injuries as she once again felt the scabs on her skin. She didn't have a good memory about what had happened, having only faint recollections of searing pain as her body was slowly shred apart by Legion—but she wished she could forget all of that. And as wonderful as it was to be back in her body again, it also felt _different_. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't entirely natural, like something was missing. Her sensitivity had also increased, probably a side-effect of being without a body for so long. Not long after waking up, tried as she could to ignore it, she had taken notice that with every heartbeat, the wounds throbbed deep in her core and itched in places she never _thought_ could get itchy. And it might have just been her imagination, but she could swear it was being persistent.

A strangled intake of breath escaped her when she grazed a tender area of her neck, losing her grip on the Lum as she twitched. She scrunched her eyes shut at the mere remembrance of her own fingers sinking into her flesh—except she _knew_ that wasn't _her_. She only had witnessed it in some strange out-of-body experience, yet there was an involuntary flex just from touch alone. And it dismissed the pain to press harder and scratch.

Mewtwo's arm pulling her into a tight hug was what squeezed out a sob from her, and she forcefully grabbed him so she wouldn't continue feeling herself. He had tougher skin than she, he didn't even jerk when her claws dug grooves into him, and for that she was glad it was him holding her. But within an instant, tears felt like liquid fire when they slid down her cheek and neck, and although her mouth was open for a scream, only gasps pushed their way through.

“I-It hurts,” she managed to choke out. “My body... it remembers...”

She wept into his chest, all while he seethed from her words, his hand balling into a fist at her shoulder.

*~*~*

Once she was able to calm down, Mew resumed eating, slower and with smaller bites this time so as to not further agitate her throat. Keeping her within arm's reach, Mewtwo rejected the berries whenever she tried to offer him one, feeling she deserved them more than he did. She noticed they tasted more and more bitter as time went on, which she linked to her guilt eating in front of her counterpart.

Prodding the skin of the last Lum for any soft spots, her ears drooped as she broke the silence, “Mewtwo... I-I don't know how to repay you for all this.”

He waved a hand around in refusal. “Do not worry about it at this present time.”

Mew smiled a little before sighing. “You know, I just realized you put me ahead of your life almost recklessly. It's just so... I wouldn't say it's selfish, but in a way... in the long run, it might be.” She eyed the bandages warily.

He slightly frowned, rubbing his arm. “How would it, exactly?”

Her eyes met his for a moment. “What if you had died, Mewtwo? You would be leaving me a widow, so to speak. That would be rather selfish, leaving me alone so suddenly.”

Mewtwo imagined the consequences of poor Mew left alone. With the thoughts of her having to deal with guilt, loneliness, and the stress of trying to move on, and having been very close to experiencing that heartbreak himself, he agreed. Then he recalled how Celebi and the others were worried about his health, urging him to take the water for himself. He honestly couldn't blame them, they had meant well.

“It would have actually been selfish of me to take the last of Clarity Lake,” he corrected. “There was very little left when I finally gave it to you.”

She found herself shivering. “What do you mean? There wasn't enough for both of us?”

“No.” He glanced over to do a quick scan of her figure, taking note of the wounds that should not have scabbed over so easily. “The vial had cracked, and by the time I administered it to you, there was only a quarter of it left, maybe less. There would have been no way to split it between us, not in the condition you were in.” He turned his gaze back to the waterfall. “It is a miracle it still kept its healing properties. You were so broken up...” Not wanting to remember the horrific image, he trailed off.

Mew whimpered. “I understand...” After a moment's pause, she then quietly added, “I suppose it would have been worse if I happened to have gotten pregnant.”

The statement made him close his eyes, and he slowly sighed through his nose. He knew she would bring it up eventually. “Mew... I can think of only two other times you and I would have become intimate had the circumstances called for it. What are the chances you would have been ovulating during those nights?” Mewtwo then raised a brow in inquiry, glancing over at her. “Do you even _know_ your ovulation period?”

Mew shrugged. “I had friends who knew when theirs occurred. They were aware of this 'heat season', so they told me, and they almost always got pregnant during those seasons, whenever they were. I questioned about _my_ heat season, but they couldn't answer. As far as I know, I don't think I had one. Since, you know... I was immortal at the time.”

He placed his chin in his hand. “It is possible you might have one now.”

“But I don't know when it is, or _what_ it feels like. I could have been having it this whole time.” She flushed at the thought, staring up at her mate. “Why am I telling you this?” she muttered to herself, biting into the berry.

The clone felt a blush rise as well. “I am sorry I brought it up. It is a sensitive topic, I take it?”

Mew waited to swallow before giving her reply. “I-I don't know. I mean, it doesn't come up in casual discussion anyway, so, uh... I suppose it is.” Twiddling her fingers, she resumed eating.

It was an awkward silence, both of them avoided eye-contact while they tried to fight down the blushes and concentrated on something else. Because they sat across from each other, it made things more uncomfortable, knowing they resolved their relationship, but didn't know how to carry it out. Thinking back on the issues and bonding they had, Mew got a little nervous. No doubt both of them knew there was only one other thing left to complete their bond.

Glancing up at him, she hesitated a little before opening her mouth. “Um...Mewtwo?”

“Hmm?” He looked over, visibly calm.

She took a breath, slowly going over her response. “I... um... c-can you promise me that I'm yours? That way... when we do finally... c-consummate, well...”

He wrapped his tail around her form, bringing a small gasp from her. She relaxed some at the warmth of the touch and his gaze. “You already are, Mew. But if you insist, I shall make the promise.” He gingerly brushed his fingers against her cheek, avoiding touching the scabs the best he could. “Though it would not be fair if you were just mine. I have to be yours as well to even it out. Does that make sense, Mew?”

She leaned into his hand, grasping his wrist. “It's Myriam,” she murmured, gently closing her eyes.

Mewtwo blinked, unsure if he heard her right. “It is what?”

“Myriam. That's my name.” Looking up with half-lidded eyes, she let out a soft sigh. “I would have told you sooner, but that was before I accepted you were my mate. Besides, now would be a good time to get used to it.”

“Get used to your name? I have always called you Mew.” He almost began to regret speaking out about it. Just by reciting the name over in his head, he was finding himself liking it, feeling it fit her well.

“That's because names are more for close family members. Many Pokémon have that custom.” She hung her head a little, taking his hand into her tiny paws. “I am the last Mew, so naturally, when Mother died, so did my family. I have not said my real name out loud in a thousand years.”

“Why tell me this now?”

“We're mates, Mewtwo, we both acknowledge that. And having been so close to being separated... it's better late than never.” Mew lightly skimmed her fingers along his palm, a small frown on her lips. “No one else knows of it, except for you, Mother, and I... as well as others on the other side. It's to be uttered when those outside of the family aren't within earshot. Any other time and location, 'Mew' must be used.”

He was still a little puzzled. “Is there a reason for that?”

She shrugged. “I guess it's because if someone else knows about it, they can steal it away from you. Names are important in identifying someone in a unique sort of way, I suppose, depending on their meaning.”

Mewtwo nodded, beginning to understand where she was coming from. “Do you know your name's meaning?”

“Well... I've heard different interpretations: 'drop of the sea', 'lady', 'someone who is loved'. There's quite a few.”

He felt a smile spread on his lips, finding the name more beautiful and fitting when she listed the definitions. “Would you know which one your mother meant by?”

She once more shrugged. “I wouldn't know... Though I heard it also meant 'exalted', which I guess _would_ make sense... but then again, most of the other meanings make sense.”

Mewtwo gently caressed her jaw, bringing her gaze to him. “Your mother loved you very much to give you this name,” he stated quietly. “A wise parent would know what name to give to their child that they can proudly live up to.”

Mew blushed in humility, nuzzling into his hold. “I wish I told you sooner, Mewtwo...”

She clung on when he suddenly swooped her up to rest against his chest. “It would not have made as big of an impact,” he said. “I almost lost you, so I am considering this as a blessing.” Then he chuckled out of the blue. “You know, you could have just _shown_ me your name.”

She giggled and lightly nudged his shoulder. “You would have pronounced it wrong,” she smirked.

“Try me.”

“It's spelled with a 'Y' instead of an 'I'.”

“I would have still pronounced it right.”

“Would you?”

“Yes I would, _Meer-_ ium.”

She wrinkled her nose at his exaggeration. “What a way to butcher my name, _Meew_ -two.”

They quietly laughed as they hugged, feeling tears of joy creeping up on them. Mewtwo lay his head in between her ears, gazing happily past the waterfall, out towards the blurry forest. He suddenly noticed how healthy it was despite being gray, at how the grass did look a little greener than back down in Cherrygrove, the Lum tree out by the river still bearing ripe fruit... It made him wonder if not everything was touched in the disaster. Mew—Myriam, he corrected himself—had indeed found the right get-away. Secretly, however, he wanted to show the others this place. Maybe it would loosen up their worries in knowing the entire world hadn't been as ruined as they believed.

A shiver ran through his body the moment she hoisted herself up to whisper into his ear, “Thank you for saving me, Mewtwo.”

He slowly shook his head, and held her close. “Do not thank me, Myriam. If it was all my doing, you would be dead. I did not know what to do... I was frightened. I did not know how to get help in time... I had to beg for your life—”

Falling back, she interrupted him with a soft kiss. “No need to tell me. I heard everything. You... have great faith in God to place it all in His hands.”

Mewtwo tilted his head a little in puzzlement. “I meant everything I said to Him. How is that faith?”

Her smile was sad. “You were willingly asking for His help. Your heart was humbled enough to know where to turn to. This was something you couldn't have done yourself... you had too little knowledge on it.” She looked away when she frowned. “To be honest, Mewtwo, if it was _I_ who was trying to revive you... I might not have looked to Him for help. I think I told you this before, but I lost my belief in God. I believed He had forsaken me in my time of need. Even while that whole time I was looking to Him for help... it never came. I did horrific things because of it...”

He wanted to stop her, to let her know he already knew about it all, but his heart kept him back. He felt he had no right to question her, or to even approach her on it. Instead, he hugged her tightly and fought back his tears. She curled her arms around him in response.

“But these last few days, as horrendous as they were, and the pain was so unbearable... I don't think I would have survived it in any other time frame, you know? I guess it's because I now have something to hold on to...” She craned her neck to gently kiss his cheek. “I'm proud of you, Mewtwo. You have a stronger will than I do... and a wonderful guardian angel.”

“Angel... you mentioned her before,” he recalled. “I could have sworn it was just a dream.”

“It wasn't. She allowed me to contact you, and because of that...” Mew laid a hand on his sternum to feel his heartbeat, “...our bond has been strengthened. We can sense each other. It's much more stronger than before, which would explain a lot of things, wouldn't it?”

Mewtwo squeezed her hand in silent agreement and in apology. They gazed at each other, feeling a sudden sensation of worry rise up in their chests. In unison, they looked out of the cavern, almost expecting to find something or someone of concern outside.

Mew wriggled in discomfort. “It's calling...”

“What is?” Something in the back of his mind told him he should know, but he quickly set it aside.

“...the Tree wants us back.”

His heart clenched up, and he pressed her closer protectively. “No... it cannot be possible...”

She anxiously looked up. “Our blood and aura is fueling the Tree,” she said, almost hesitantly. “It's only natural that we are connected to it.”

“I refuse to let you go,” he darkly muttered, tightening his grip.

She let out a breathy gasp when he did. “Mewtwo... we have to go back.”

He shook his head. “I almost lost you, Myriam. I cannot let it happen again.”

“It won't if we work together.”

“What are you talking about?”

She flinched at the growl in his voice. “Mewtwo, we need to go back. The Tree... it's sick and getting out of control. Do you know what that means?”

He took a few moments to recall any of the talks the two had about the Tree, only to take too long for her liking. “It's going to gorge itself any time now,” she answered for him. “And when it does, we'll die.”

“By that, you mean every one of us will?”

She sternly nodded. “We're not immortal anymore, Mewtwo.” She wiggled free and headed for the exit.

Mewtwo hurried after and stopped her past the waterfall. “Mew—Myriam, this is suicide!” he exclaimed with a stumble. “We just barely escaped with our lives! The Tree is dangerous!”

“And that's why we have to kill it.” She moved to get around him.

He caught her by the arm. “It could be a trap,” he added. “Legion and his minions may still be there waiting for us.”

Though she shuddered at the thought, she gave him a sharp gaze. “I'm aware of the risks, Mewtwo, but Amber told me we have to destroy it.”

“What does this Amber know? Has she been inside of the Tree? Does she know of Legion's horrors? Is she aware of the dangers at all?”

“Amber's been dead long enough to know all of this,” Mew snapped out. “She knows you have the power to neutralize the Tree—cleaning it out in other words. The Tree has three types of aura inside it: mine, man, and demon. They are unable to mix without a catastrophe happening. It's possible the only reason it hasn't gone berserk yet is because of your blood, or something. You are half of both a Mew and human, Mewtwo, so... s-so that balances out two auras in there—I-I think. Oh...” She clutched at her head, shaking it around like it would help the memories fall into place. “Oh no... I-I don't remember it all... I just know about it... well...”

Mewtwo reached out to grasp her shoulder to help stabilize her. “Relax, honey, you are stressing out.”

She smacked his hand away. “Mewtwo, please, we have to go back! That's all I ask!”

“And my answer is 'no'!”

“Mewtwo, we'll die if we don't!”

“And we will die if we go _back_!” He lowered his voice some when she flinched. “We are in no condition to fight, Mew, and you know it! I mean, Myriam!”

“Both names are fine,” she mumbled, though he barely heard her when he resumed.

“Legion has half of our friends under his control! They will be beyond strength limitations regardless of how broken their possessed body is! We were unconscious for almost a whole day, and we are not even _close_ to recovery, none of us are!” Taking a few breaths, he reached out again, this time to cup her face. He was met with no backlash this time. “Myriam... please... let us rest. We have to go back to free them anyway, but let us recover first. Give us a couple of days, okay? Just... just let these past few days fade into the distance. Let us come up with a plan.”

It was clear she was hurt, but Mewtwo could have sworn he saw resentment in her depths before she hung her head. “That'll work,” she murmured, letting out a long sigh. “A few days won't kill us...”

He pecked her forehead. “Thank you, Myriam... Let us just pray for their safety for now.”

She wiped at her eyes, slowly nodding. “Sure... why not? Exercise our faith.” She shot a small beam up at him, her tail loosely looping around his. “Come on, we'll follow the river back. It spills into Lake of Rage, according to Latias.”

“So _that_ explains the house,” he noted, snapping his fingers. “Only in Mahogany Town do they build their homes out of mahogany.”

Mew rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Sherlock.”

He chuckled and leaned in, quirking his brow. “Elementary, my dear.”

She shoved him into the water.

*~*~*

For the rest of the afternoon, the Legendaries discussed their plans of rescuing their friends. Mew gave an explanation about the Tree the best she could, with Mewtwo filling in the gaps of possible changes that had happened. He reluctantly even told them about Legion when pressured on about their enemy, bringing mixed emotions of anger and fear to the group. They shared Mew's desire to go back and destroy the Tree, but the clone managed to talk them out of it by pointing out everyone's inflictions. So they went ahead to develop a plan.

Lugia, Uxie, and Kyogre told their side of the story of how they infiltrated the Tree without being noticed (the beast mentioned he had made a mess of a field in one of the lower levels), giving them a visual idea of how they could enter—granted there weren't any guards, the wise fairy had noted. Everyone was given a chance to pitch in ideas no matter how ridiculous it sounded, which was almost appealed when it came to Deoxys' turn. They had to stop him after no less than a minute to call it out.

“ _I don't care what anyone says! I am damn well positive dressing in drag would get us in there!_ ” he defended himself, shooting back glares at everyone.

When night fell and the temperature dropped, they went ahead to postpone the meeting for some rest. Although it was just to house Mewtwo and Mew for shelter, a small argument arose over who got to sleep in the house. Because of its small size and the ratio between males and females (though Giratina complained they all slept outside together with no problems), it was cut in half as to who slept inside. The females easily won control of the house, but Latias didn't want to sleep without her brother, and Mewtwo got a free pass so Cresselia and Mesprit could keep an eye on him. Leaving the rest of the males outside, everyone else went ahead to claim their rooms, although the majority chose to stay in the main room where a fireplace was built in.

As much as Mew protested, her mate insisted on staying in the same room as her. Cresselia wasn't happy with his decision, but she allowed him as long as she could come in and out freely. She never did come by, though even if she did, the two never noticed, having gotten engrossed in conversation and quiet arguments about anything to pass the time away. They strayed away from talking about the Tree, Legion, or anything pertaining to the last three days, wanting to maintain a light atmosphere about them. Though he sat at her bedside the entire time, they never once touched with the exception of a kiss good night.

Mew ended up stirring herself awake from a sharp pull felt inside her chest. Her stomach fluttered nervously when she glanced over at her mate sleeping in the windowsill. She frowned at how uncomfortable it looked, wondering how he could sleep like that (especially as injured as he was), then rolled out of bed. Gingerly, she left the room and entered the main part of the house, thankful she could still levitate. Glancing out the window at the dying fire, she went ahead to Teleport right beside it. Doing so, she jumped in surprise when she heard Entei snort and mumble in his sleep, and hurried out to the safety of the dark forest.

While she calmed herself down, two sides of her subconscious began to fight. One told her to go back to sleep so she wouldn't be worrying everyone sick when they woke up. The other was pressuring her to keep going, that Mewtwo was in the wrong. So far, her desire to kill the Tree was winning, and she advanced further into the forest until she realized she had no idea where it was. She waited to see if there was anything inside her trying to tug her into the right direction, but nothing came, only the inner squeeze of its silent call.

“Forget it,” she finally mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. “I can't continue on if I don't know where to go.”

She turned around and headed back to the house. Without thinking properly, she flew for the window, and smacked her head against it. Biting back a startled cry, she looked up and nearly had a heart attack when she met with the wide-eyed gaze of Mewtwo. She backed up when he opened the window.

“Mew, what are you doing?” he whispered anxiously. “Where were you?”

She spun her head around for a few seconds. “Um... I-I had to go to the bathroom,” she sheepishly lied.

He scowled, sending a shiver down her spine. “You were going to the Tree.”

Twisting her hands, she shamefully nodded, her levitation faltering. “I'm sorry, Mewtwo...”

“Mew, we talked about this,” he interrupted her with a groan. “You said you would wait a few days, and you always give your word.”

“Mewtwo, there is no time to wait,” she protested. “Our friends are going to die if we don't save them. And even then, if we leave the Tree alive, it'll just kill us. Can't you feel yourself getting older?”

“I have always felt my body aging, it has nothing to do with the Tree.” He tilted his head. “Can _you_?”

Mew let out a distressed sigh, feeling dumb for making the comment. “...not really...”

“Then we will be fine. All of us will.” He reached out to stroke her face, frowning at the dark lines streaking down her cheeks. His voice lowered to a murmur, “Come back to bed, Myriam. We will discuss this more in the morning. For now, just sleep.”

“Only if you get off the windowsill. Your back is going to be sore if you keep it up.” She grasped his hand. “Sleep with me tonight, Mewtwo.”

“Now Myriam, the door is wide open, and there are ladies present, particularly Latias.”

She gaped at him. “Don't tell me Deoxys is corrupting your mind!”

With a smile, Mewtwo stepped away from the window, pulling her inside before closing it. “I only kid, dear. Loosen up a little.”

“That was a horrible joke,” she grunted, gently landing on the bed with her arms folded. A thought then popped into her head when she pushed lightly down on the mattress (she had refused to sleep on the leaves from earlier). “Um... you're not going to break the bed, are you?”

“I am not a Snorlax, Myriam,” he smirked, sitting down beside her. He chuckled when she flinched from when the bed creaked. “If it is still intact from just sitting, it can take my full weight.”

She shrugged, scooting to the side. “Just checking...” Watching as he reclined on his good side, she reached out to touch the sling. “Did Cress say when it'll heal?”

“No less than a few months,” he said, looking down at it.

“Why don't you use Recover?”

“Broken bones are different from lacerations. If I had my full power, I might have at least set it and waited for it to heal over.” He shrugged a little. “I never had to heal broken bones before, so I am just guessing here.”

Mew sadly smiled down at him. “You do have flaws after all.”

“What made you think I was not flawless?”

She shrugged a little. “I don't know... you just seemed that way. Didn't help you kept to yourself a lot.”

With a grin, he reached out and pulled her in towards him, giving her a small kiss. She let out a quiet gasp, feeling herself slip beneath him from the way he was leaning over her. She squeezed his shoulders to push him away a little, staring up at him. He gazed back lovingly, with no other indication he was thinking of a second meaning as he gently stroked her ear.

“Well, guess I am not the only one who thinks that way.”

Mew felt herself blush, and looked away. “...I'm kinda regretting asking you to sleep with me,” she admitted.

Mewtwo let out a low chuckle and pecked her cheek. “I am irresistible.”

“Just because you are saying that doesn't make it any less awkward.”

Shaking his head with a quiet laugh, he shifted so she rested beneath his chin. “Good night, Myriam. Pleasant dreams.”

“I hope so,” she breathed out, snuggling closer. She relaxed at the feel of his heart against her chest. A smile found its way to her lips, becoming more convinced there had to be no other safe place than here in his arms. “`Night, Mewtwo... sweet dreams...”

Before she fell asleep, Mew happened to look over at the window. It was faint, but she was certain she saw the figure of a familiar girl standing over them, a bright smile on her face.

_Good night, Myriam... Welcome back._

 


	19. Last Chance

“ _It was a perfectly fine day, but I breathed in the cold breeze_

_In an instant, time stopped its needle_

_One-way, that cannot return twice_

_A lost child looks for a bright place”_

_\-- “Forest of Grief” (translated), Ayane, When Cicadas Cry: Festival_

*~*~*

The morning meeting took a bit to assemble, but even then the discussions went all over the place. Everyone was clearly worried about the fate of their friends that they desperately wanted to start the rescue right then and there. Shaymin was quick to persuade them to settle for a plan before it could get out of hand, until they realized they didn't know where the Tree exactly was. Mewtwo resolved it by mentioning the Mystri Stage, which Uxie also confirmed in recognizing the surrounding area upon infiltration.

“Well then, why not draw out a blueprint?” Latios made a suggestion.

“There's no use in mapping out the ruins,” he said, arms folded. “The Sinjoh Ruins have been eradicated by the crystals.”

“What about the Mystri Stage?” his sister worriedly asked. “Is it still useable?”

He shrugged. “I couldn't feel it...”

“It could be because it became the Heart of the Tree,” the clone explained, much to the surprise of the Sinnoh Legendaries. “Legion used it in the restoration.”

“How is that possible? Only a Legendary can run it, and even then it's difficult to use!” Darkrai shook his head in disbelief. “Besides, it's forbidden, at least not without permission. It has to call us over—well, Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, to be exact.”

The renegade snorted. “Arceus gave us that right since he hardly ever comes down here. But hell, I haven't used it. One of you folks always got to it before I could feel it calling, and that's _after_ Dialga and Palkia have felt it.” A few looked away, making him huff a little and return his attention to the front.

“It doesn't matter now,” Uxie muttered. “The question is: who activated it?”

“ _He just said this Legion guy did,_ ” Deoxys scoffed. “ _Weren't you listening?_ ”

“But Legion is no Legendary I know of.”

Mew squeezed his hand when he hung his head. “He used Mew to do it.”

Many of them murmured in astonishment. Shaymin's eyes widened, mouthing a little before finding her voice, “How is she still here? We aren't immortal anymore.”

Mewtwo gently ran his thumb along the back of her paw. “Legion once told me he could keep Mew's body from aging at will. I know very little of what happens to the body during the activation of the stage, though from what I saw...” his lips twitched as he glanced at his mate, “...it was painful.”

“Um... isn't aura supposed to be used to create the Tree or something?” Zapdos questioned.

Mew shivered, then nodded. “In a way, though a base is needed. You can't create matter out of thin air, something else has to exist to become something else.”

“That _bastard_ made a giant freakin' crystal from the Mystri Stage?!” Giratina roared, startling most of the Legendaries when he shot out of his seat.

A memory of a gleaming blue object flashed into Mewtwo's head. “No... it was some kind of... shiny blue material.”

Entei snickered. “He said 'shiny'.” Suicune lightly bopped him on the head to shut him up.

He hardly heard the beast speak. “Because it had this smooth look to it, I would say it was a stone. A very familiar stone... it had to have aura in it.”

The small feline gasped, straightening up. “Sir Aaron's gloves had stones in them! They held aura! So that explains...!”

The Legendaries leaned in when she paused. “Explains what, Mew?” Latias pressed.

She waved her paw about. “S-Sorry, I was thinking of something else... but that explains the base. Legion didn't make the Heart out of the Mystri Stage. He may have combined the two.”

“Isn't that still saying the Heart formed directly _from_ the stage?” Heatran amended.

Mewtwo shook his head. “It looked intact the last I saw it. The Heart just rests on it.”

“Doesn't mean it didn't end up fusing together,” Uxie pointed out, his grave tone of voice turning heads. “This is no ordinary demon since he knows about the stage's abilities. It's possible he didn't activate the Mystri Stage, otherwise we would have noticed. He must be keeping it awake for later use.”

Cresselia paled a little. “Um... d-doesn't the stage work according to the user's wishes and desires?”

The fairy darkly looked up. His expression was all it took for the group to become somber, their hearts feeling like stopping that very moment.

The meeting was quietly adjourned.

*~*~*

The following couple of days were difficult to handle with a hint of paranoia lingering on their shoulders. They continued to talk about finalizing the rescue plan while they fussed over their own recoveries in between. For the most part, they didn't suffer many long-term effects and were able to perform tasks without complaints, so Mesprit was able to relieve them from her care. It left her and Cresselia more time for Mew to be their main priority (since Mewtwo was showing positive signs and mainly just needed a good eye kept on his arm). But to their amazement, she was found to be well enough they had announced to the Legendaries that evening they were heading out first thing in the morning.

As much as the clone wanted to tell them the reasons for her speedy recovery, he felt it was too personal to tell anyone else. He didn't doubt Mew had suffered the injuries they said she may have had, much like he never once questioned the miracle. He had a little issue with their clearance, but after they talked it over, he vowed never to let her out of his sight “to be on the safe side”.

“Honey, this is a rescue mission. You'll have to pay attention to everything else at some point,” his beloved gave her reasoning later that night when he brought it up.

“I am just saying, Myriam, we need to be cautious about this,” he sighed, readjusting the sling's strap. “Legion never once stated he was officially through with you.”

“This isn't about me right now, Mewtwo.”

“It might end up that way.”

She shot up off the bed to wrap her arms around his shoulders. “I can take care of myself. I know the dangers now—”

“You do not know where he is or what form he is in,” he cut her off, a slight frown on his brows. “He is more dangerous now because we do not know what to expect.”

Mew averted her gaze to the window, watching Deoxys and Lugia trying to outwit each other in charades (or whatever the males were doing). She and Mewtwo had chosen to isolate themselves in the bedroom to talk things through after having let the others know beforehand. She was sure they hadn't been alone for more than fifteen minutes, and yet the chatter outside and down the hall had been nothing more than a low, buzzing background noise from the start.

Leaning her head against him, she murmured, “He may go after the others, though.”

“I am aware of that... but he wants you more.”

“But why? Why us?”

Mewtwo reached up to grasp a paw. “He wants nothing more than a body for himself and his followers. He claimed we would produce strong children... which may be the ideal body for a demon.”

She raised her brows in puzzlement. “What makes him say that?”

Shaking his head, he attempted to move the subject elsewhere. “Myriam, are you still willing to kill the Tree?”

Annoyed he avoided her question, she replied anyway, “I am. But I can't do it alone.”

“Can we wait to purify it?”

“It's not purifying, we're neutralizing. It'll be easier to kill it then.”

“Has this been done before?”

“We're just calming it down, so it _has_ been done before... in a way.” She grew a little worried at the thought, then reworded her answer. “Well... I suppose you _can_ say that by purifying the Tree, we are making it neutral... though it depends on the strength of the one neutralizing it.”

Mewtwo looked over anxiously. “To balance it out, will it have to drain our life-source?”

Mew's brows furrowed. “It shouldn't... but...” She went quiet as she reviewed it to herself. Her eyes then suddenly widened, raising a trembling hand to her mouth. Before he could ask what was wrong, she pushed herself away from him. He watched as she sloppily drew the curtains closed, then hurried for the door to shut and lock it.

He immediately got up and started for her. “Myriam, what are you doing? We have to keep it ope—”

She crushed a hard kiss into him, pushing him back to the bed and knocking the breath out of him. She let out a moan, teasingly sliding her tongue inside his mouth. He lay there in shock, feeling her hug him tightly to sensually stroke her hips along his torso. Regaining movement in his arm, he grasped her face to pull her away for air.

“Myriam! What was tha...?”

He trailed off at the forming tears deep in her eyes, her hands clutching his shoulders. Never had she been so open to him before, it was as though she had revealed a hidden persona. Panting, she kissed him again with the same amount of passion, ignoring the dripping slaver.

“I'm ready,” was her purr between her breaths.

“Ready for what?” He winced when her tail lightly swiped across his abdomen.

“Please, Mewtwo... in case this is our last night, I want you to take me.” She licked his chin fervently.

Mewtwo quickly rolled her off him before scurrying up against the wall. “Myriam, you cannot be serious!”

Mew gazed up with a hurt look, then crawled over to hug him around the middle. “Please, dear... I promise to be quiet. We can be quick about it. No one will notice.”

“It does not matter,” he breathed out, shaking his head. “This is not the time nor the place.”

“Mewtwo, what if this is our last night together?” she mewled. Her eyes skimmed along the numerous scars littering his body.

“That may not be the case. Besides,” he reached down to cup her face and rub away the drying drool, “if we went ahead and became intimate, if either of us _does_ die tomorrow... What if by some chance I end up impregnating you tonight?”

The question made her pause and look away for a few moments. “...Well... then at least it proves you are capable of having children.”

“You are not getting it, Myriam.”

“What makes you think _you_ get it? You've never checked to see if you _are_ sterile, your defense is because you're man-made.” Mew turned her back on him when she lay down, curling up a little. “If your clones could have children, chances are you can,” she muttered. “...as for myself...”

Mewtwo's heart skipped when she trailed off, wondering if she was ready to tell him. He sat back against the headboard and gazed down at her, waiting patiently for her to continue. His hearing briefly picked up the voice of Suicune yelling outside for the others to shut up, but it only held his attention for a few retorts. His mate eventually started to tremble from what he thought was the cold. Scooping her into his arm to hold against his chest, he spotted a tear rolling down her face before she snuggled closer, fingers gently clawing at his collarbone.

She whimpered something indecipherably for half a minute until she glanced up. “Mewtwo... remember a couple of years ago, um... where I had been absent for a long time? U-Um... I... Please don't take this the wrong way, I-I'm still a...”

He laid a hand on her cheek in comfort. “Slow down, Myriam. Calm yourself down first.”

Mew gulped down a few breaths, leaning into his palm. “...I-It was horrible, Mewtwo... They did things to me... I had never been so scared...” She hiccuped on a sob and wiped at an eye. “I used to force myself to forget terrible memories. But this... I can't get it out of my head. There is no way I can, not while I keep having dreams... and after I found the scar...”

He tightly bit his lip, trying hard not to tense up.

“Honey... your hand's shaking.”

He quickly lowered it to her back, turning his head to hide his teary eyes from her. “Sorry... You were saying?”

She was quiet for a long, painful minute while he felt her stare. He struggled not to show signs of his lament, hoping there were enough shadows to hide him from view until he could compose himself. When he shifted a little in place, the rosy feline startled him by reaching out to touch his face. He refused to meet her in the eye, shivering beneath her fingertips and holding his breath.

“You know about...?”

He nodded slowly.

“...for how long?”

Mewtwo choked on a sigh. “O-Only a few days,” he stammered out, his eyelids drooping.

She leaned in. “How?”

He shook his head. “It does not matter... Even if I had never known, I can feel how frightened you are in here.” Upon placing his hand over her heart, she pressed it closer without hesitance like she was treasuring it. “...You would have never been ready to tell me.”

She fiddled with his fingers. “...I-I'm sorry, Mewtwo.”

“Do not apologize,” he interjected. “I should be apologizing to you. I visited you only a few times not long after I had gotten word you returned. You never once showed signs you knew I was there...” His hand gave her paws a squeeze, then released them. “I left you alone to be in the care of others because I did not know what to do. How was I supposed to know they could not help you either? We left you to die... we betrayed you...”

She took him by the chin and pulled him down for a kiss. It was gentle this time, not a hint of passion was on her lips. It was unfortunately short-lived; he scarcely returned it when she broke away, caressing along his jaw.

“No, it was my fault for not communicating,” she murmured. “I saw you all come visit me... and I just stared through you all. I-I wanted to say something, really... I just could not bring myself to speak. My mouth... it refused to open the entire time. It was like I became dumb, you know? Which I suppose is what happens when someone goes through something terrible...”

Then Mew became at a loss for words, eyes showing signs of distress when she slid down to lay back on her side. A bit unsure what to do, having frozen up a little when she distracted him from his own sober thoughts, he moved to kneel over her. She jerked a little at his sudden movement, blinking up at him in disarray. Carefully, he lowered himself to let his elbows support him up just as he touched her cheek. He felt a rush of heat rise to her face when she glanced down at his figure, and he realized in slight embarrassment his mended arm was resting on her lower abdomen. Quickly, he flipped onto his good side to give her space, though he saw with surprise she looked a little disappointed.

Scooting closer to throw her arms around his neck, she sighed out, “Mewtwo, please promise me something.”

“What kind of promise?”

“I don't care, just give me a promise.”

He rested his chin between her ears while he thought on it, then curled his arm around her and looked her in the eye. “Myriam, darling, I make this promise to you that you shall have a long and happy life from this point on.”

She frowned deeply. “You don't know that...”

His gaze softened to a sad look, and he silently kissed her. A small disgruntled whimper escaped her, but she let herself go without another protest when she opened up to lick his lips. As sensual as it was, he refused to allow her or himself to harden the kiss as such, and instead deepened the lip-locking. The moment felt like ages to them, breathing each other in while their bodies steadily tightened the space in the need for warmth and physical contact. When her tail deliberately brushed along his lower abdomen, Mewtwo tightened his hold of her neck in warning.

“Dear, there is a time and place for everything,” he mumbled against her mouth. “For now, the kisses are suffice enough.”

She parted for a breath. “Just the kisses?”

He nodded, stroking the back of her head in apology. Her eyes dropped briefly, then she pushed herself off the bed for the door to open it a crack. Glancing over, Mewtwo gave her an amused smile as he sat up, a quiet groan rumbling in his throat. “I will accept that. Cresselia would not be pleased if the door was locked when she comes to check on us.”

Mew shifted a little in place before returning to him. He reached out for a hand only for her to straddle above his injured arm, straightening up to be eye-level with him. She trembled when he dropped his hand to rest on the small of her back, lightly pressing her to him. Hesitantly, she leaned in to snag a small kiss, reaching down to tug at the sling, almost desirably.

“You're scared, aren't you?” she murmured, looking at him beneath her lashes.

The clone pressed his forehead to her with a sigh. “Myriam... even if this somehow resulted in a pregnancy... I do not want Legion after you.”

“Let him.”

His eyes widened when his heart clenched. “Are you _mad_ , Myriam?” he breathed out.

“I do not want to run anymore, and I do not want you to be alone with him again.” Mew kissed him once more, holding him by the jaw. “We may die tomorrow... but I do not want him to win the battle over me...” With a shaky inhale, she tearily met his gaze. “Take me, Mewtwo... just for this moment.”

All it took was one look in his eye and at his posture that it sunk in it wasn't the right time for intimacy. She could only frown a little, wrapping her tail around his as she closed her eyes to lean against him. In apology, he drifted his hand up along her figure to take her by the chin, the movement letting out a small mewl from her which was stifled by his mouth. Yielding, she hoisted herself slightly above him, hardening the kiss and grasping him further until his fingers accidentally skimmed the claw marks on her neck.

“Mewtwo!” she immediately gasped, yet there was just the hint of begging in her voice.

Parting, they eyed each other anxiously. Mewtwo trembled a little at her wavering but pleading gaze, spotting the hint of want in her watery depths. Glancing over her shoulder, he watched her lower their entwined, antsy tails to the bed where they sensually stroked. Returning to her eyes, he let out a slow shudder of a sigh. Tilting back her head, he pressed into her lips a little harder than before, bringing a drawn-out moan from when their tongues grazed from a single brush. Easing her mouth open, he stole a quick glimpse from her upon gently dipping her to the mattress.

“Myriam, we need to be as quiet as possible,” he huskily whispered, shifting to kneel over her to put weight on his uninjured arm. She shivered the moment he nuzzled her, his movements slow as he kissed along her shoulder. “...If it becomes too much, let me know, and I will stop,” he added in a faltered tone.

Mew nodded and nervously swallowed, her voice caught in her throat. “I-I understand, Mewtwo...”

She immediately bit on her knuckles to repress a startled whimper when he tentatively ran his hand up a breast, throwing her head back with fluttering eyelids. He craned his neck to lightly lick her bottom lip, and she allowed him to casually trace along her tongue before they enclosed their lips to keep it covert. Her hands reached out for his arms, fingers tangling into the sling.

Having come by to check on them for the night, Cresselia raised a brow at the door being opened a crack. She moved for the knob when she heard the bed creak accompanied by soft gasps. The noise made her pause, her breath catching. Feeling she was going to regret it, she carefully peeked in, first noticing the curtains were a bit disheveled like they were drawn in a hurry. She followed the light over to the bed, her heart jumping at the sight of Mewtwo bowed over Mew, lost in a deep kiss.

She knew it was wrong to spy on them (even though she had eavesdropped on Mewtwo's heartfelt apology days before), but it brought a sense of sadness over her. Though flustered as she pulled back to cover her face, the scene unintentionally brought back memories and long-lost desires of intimacy. She found herself thinking back to Darkrai, musing over what could be going through his mind at that moment.

Cresselia hadn't realized she was staring off into space until Latias came up from behind. “Is something wrong?” she innocently asked.

The lunar swan quietly pulled the door nearly-shut to give her a smile, waving her hands around. “Nothing to report!”

Tilting her head, the dragon pointed at her face. “Then why are you blushing?”

“No reason!”

Frowning at the wide grin, she moved to look inside the room only to be shooed away. “I want to say good-night to Mew,” she objected.

Shaking her head, Cresselia muttered, “Sorry, dear, not tonight... There's always tomorrow.”

“How do you know there is going to be a tomorrow?”

She meditated on it, but never expressed an answer, watching the young female head back for the front room. Her thoughts drifted back to Mewtwo and Mew, wondering if they knew tomorrow's outcome. She had known for a long time the two were close friends, even having that belief their relationship was similar to how hers and Darkrai's was. It was only a few months ago she had noticed tension between them, and the looks of longing from afar. She had once asked Mew about it only to have her deny and contradict herself within a minute's time. While she never pushed the matter any further, it was then and there she knew the two held a special bond like what she shared with her counterpart.

There was another creak beyond the wood. “Mewtwo—ah!”

“Please keep it down, dear.”

“I-I'm sorry... I'm just nervous...”

“Just relax.”

Quiet gasps of breath sounded alongside slight rustling. “Mm... is this alright?”

“If you want to stop—”

“No... keep going...”

Cresselia shivered, silently closed the door, and went to her room. As much as she wished they wouldn't, it was their one night together. She couldn't control how intimate they were going to be with one another, and had no desire to stop them.

But she knew it was sure to break a heart if either of them were to die tomorrow.

*~*~*

The group gradually woke up at dawn (some were forced to by Shaymin), and had a breakfast no one was in the mood to eat but were persuaded otherwise. They had a morning prayer afterwards for guidance and protection, then once the last “amen” was uttered, they solemnly headed for the Tree. For the most part, they all were bunched together in their own small groups, holding hands or just making sure they kept some form of skin contact. None of them dared to speak a word, even when Entei randomly started bursting into song a few miles in. As bothersome as it was, no one had the heart to stop him, though after a while, Suicune barked at him to be quiet.

“I'm just trying to brighten the mood!” he whimpered defensively, hanging his head. “None of you even joined in.”

“Well, Entei, we're happy for you trying to cheer us up,” Latios started out, smiling back at him, “but even then, your choice of music is rather... obscure, to put it lightly.”

“You don't like it?” he muttered, looking like he was ready to tear up. “It just came to me...”

“Well, when you put it that way, it _does_ explain the uniqueness of it—”

Deoxys immediately leaned in. “ _Yo, Latios, I'm all happy you're trying, and I'm letting you finish, but Cresselia has one of the best mood killers of all time._ ” He then shrugged and ducked before the swan could reach over to (lightly) smack him.

There were a few snickers at the comment, but it did little for the group. Though it encouraged some to strike up conversations, they became quickly too melancholic, so they retained their silence and just stayed close together. Mewtwo began noticing a familiar chill when everything quieted down, knowing Mew was feeling the same thing when her tail tightly curled around his.

And then at the point of exhaustion, when the morning couldn't get more gloomy with its threat of rain, they came across trails of crystal spires to signify they reached their destination. The further they went along, the bigger and thicker the clusters became, unnerving them with reminders of the campsite in Cherrygrove. Flinching away like they were going to be bitten if they laid a finger on anything, the Legendaries huddled even closer and slowed down to cautious gaits as they murmured amongst themselves. Upon entering a clearing, jaws dropped and gasps of awe escaped out of impulse.

While the Tree itself looked like how it was prior to its destruction, even standing proudly against a landscape of mountains, it had a dark, twisted look to it. Thanks to the ubiquitous crystals, it held an eerie, ambient light like bloodshed instead of the peaceful, healthy green it once had. Whether or not it was because of the fog, the pathway to the Tree was uninviting and hazardous. The vegetation alongside of the trail looked normal, but a closer inspection revealed a hint of sickness to them.

Darkrai's face contorted in horror once he assessed the area. “My God... the Sinjoh Ruins... It's gone. I-It's been overtaken by crystals.”

Giratina swerved over to him. “This is impossible,” he growled. “Where's the Mystri Stage? It's still here, isn't it?”

Everyone looked over to Mewtwo for the answer, whose hardened gaze never left the Tree. He gave his quiet response, pointing high above them, “It lies somewhere up there.”

“What do you mean 'somewhere'?” the renegade snarled, squinting up at its height. “You don't know where the Heart is?”

“I'm sure there's a reason he doesn't know,” Uxie said, floating up to his eye-level. “Just please, calm down.”

“What do we do when we find it?” Heatran inquired of him. “We never did discuss it, did we?”

There was a moment's pause where everyone looked at one another quizzically.

“Well, for one thing, Mewtwo said the Mystri Stage was used to hold the Heart,” Shaymin slowly mused. “Perhaps the Heart is removable?”

Mew shook her head. “It's stationary.”

“Damn, there goes that idea,” Lugia muttered.

“Wait, would removing the Heart kill the Tree?” Mesprit asked.

“It would.”

“ _Since when did we agree on killing the Tree? I thought this was a rescue mission!_ ” Deoxys threw his hands up with a scoff. “ _Dammit, guys, I thought we covered all of this._ ”

“You all can still stick with the rescue plan,” the feline assured them. “Mewtwo and I will be the ones who'll do something about the Heart.”

“You should have told us about this,” the hedgehog sighed, shaking her head. “But no matter. Only a third of us are missing, I'm sure it won't take more than half of us to get them.”

Most of them, after taking a good look at the Tree, glanced back worriedly. “It's pretty big,” Latias squeaked, fiddling with her claws. “What if we get lost and are separated?”

“Or get caught or attacked, which potentially leads to our deaths?” Darkrai added, getting a small wary glare from Cresselia.

“And the moment we walk in, what if there's this ominous choir complete with those creepy human instruments greeting us, thus symbolizing our impending doom?” Everyone turned to Groudon with a look of dismay. He shrugged. “Just saying.”

Giratina grunted, rustling his wings. “They have a point, most of them. Honestly, Shaymin, I think planning it out was just a waste of time.”

“Can we just _go_ already?” Zapdos moaned, trudging forward and dragging his sisters along. “The longer we stand here arguing about what to do, the easier it takes for them to find us—”

Suddenly, a beam of ice skimmed by his wing and froze a tree. With wide eyes, everyone watched as Regice loomed over a hill to peer down at them, the dots on his face flickering rapidly. “Trespassers detected!” he announced in a chillingly empty tone.

“Aw, shit!”

Articuno and Moltres screamed and yanked their brother back to the group. The others gaped as the ice golem raised his arms to power another attack. Regirock and Registeel were the only ones who dared to go forth. “Regice, what has gotten into you?” the ironclad Legendary questioned in a pleading manner.

The dots on his face gleamed when he turned to look at them. “You abandoned me! You all did!” He aimed the beam to encase their legs to the ground.

“We did not abandon you!” Regirock gasped, quickly pushing aside their predicament. “We were too weak, we had no choice but to retreat! But we would never leave you behind on purpose!”

“Believe us when we say we wanted to go back and get you!” his brother shouted out, gesturing to the group behind him. “They will testify of it if you will let us explain!”

“You do not care for us!” Regice snapped. “You left us to _die,_ to be a slave forever!”

“What are you talking about?” Shaymin piped up. “Slave to what?”

“Do not play dumb with me!” He shot a ball of ice in the hedgehog's direction, though she jumped back in time. “Regigigas and I shall not let you pass!”

As if on cue, there came a mighty quake, and the gargantuan pushed past a tree, towering over them menacingly. Tilting his face down, he reached forward and made a grab for the nearest Legendary, who happened to be Latias. She let out a terrified screamed, her brother hurriedly snatching her by the arm to pull her away. Even if he hadn't, the giant wouldn't have touched her, as Groudon clutched the out-stretched hand and wrestled it back.

“Think about what you're doing!” he growled through his teeth. “We're your friends, Reg!”

“You are no friends of mine,” he rumbled, swinging his free arm to clobber him upside the head.

The titan stumbled along, landing on a group of spires with a hiss. Mew and Mewtwo lurched at a sudden wave of pain through their insides, losing their balance. The clone managed to swallow down his bitter nausea, but his counterpart was too shocked to catch herself. The nearby Legendaries swerved around when they heard her vomit, eyes widening in terror at the amount of blood.

“ _Oh, good God!_ ” Deoxys exclaimed, covering his face.

“...wha... what's happening?” she gasped, clutching her stomach. “M-Mewtwo...”

Shaymin, ignoring how ill she was feeling, quickly put two-and-two together and turned to the giant. “Groudon! Avoid the crystals!”

“Oh, like I didn't know that!” he spat out, lifting himself up. Glaring over at Regigigas, his eyes widened at the sight of the Colossal Legendary rushing toward him with a limb spinning rapidly. “No-no- _no-no-no_ —” The Dizzy Punch connected squarely with his jaw, knocking him back over.

Everyone struggled to remain standing from the tremor made, though the two partially-frozen golems were freed when the ice shattered. They hurried to help Groudon until Regice slid in their way. “Leaving so soon? I did not get a chance to say 'good-bye'.”

Registeel moved to shake sense into him. “Regice, we are sorry for everything we have done to you, but this is going too far! It is almost like you want us to die!”

“That is the whole point.” Shoving his hand into his face, he froze an encasing around his head, and pushed him back.

Regirock caught his brother, immediately working to chip off the ice. “Regice, snap out of it!”

“Fight me, brothers! Fight me, or perish with your friends!”

“Regice, Regigigas, don't! We're here to rescue you!” Latias shrilled out, struggling against her sibling's hold. “Come help us find the others!”

The ice golem looked over at the young dragon, a menacing sheen glinting on his body. “How cute, a rescue mission,” he coldly growled. “I regret to inform you all that you came out of hiding for nothing. Legion gave us the command to kill on sight. But unless you surrender to us, then I might show a little mercy. Regigigas may not be that lenient.”

She swiftly shook her head and fought some more. “Why aren't you trusting us?!”

“Latias, enough!” Latios shouted, shaking her. “It's no use, he's gone!”

“No! Regice is still there, I know he is!”

A chilling laugh escaped Regice. “Silly girl, you are starting to GET ON MY NERVES!” He shot a beam of ice out of his hands in the Eon dragons' direction.

Kyogre swooped in to block it with his fin. “This has gone on far enough!” he snapped. “You want a fight, I'll give you a fight!”

“Kyogre, ya damn fish, stay out of this!” his rival roared from the side, trying to fight off Regigigas and his confusion all at once. “It's under control!”

Ignoring the titan's remarks, he turned to the others. “We have no time to stand around and gawk. I'll stay here and hold them off. You all go on ahead, I'm right behind you.”

Latias opened her mouth to protest only to have her brother clamp it shut. “Let me help.”

“No, protect your sister. I have Registeel and Regirock on my side, it shouldn't take long.” He flashed a toothy smirk. “We'll be fine. Besides, you need to all be on higher ground anyway. I predict a flash flood on its way, and I can't have you being swept away on my watch.”

A few Legendaries flinched at the sudden crack of thunder, but more began to fidget when it started to rain. Shaymin found the will to hurry on down the path, glancing over at the whale. “Good luck, Kyogre, Golems... Groudon. Be safe.”

Saluting with a fin, he added, “Godspeed, chief.”

She smiled for a brief moment, then leered at the hesitant Legendaries. “What are you waiting for, an invitation? To the Tree!”

At once, they gave their comrades a quick grin and shouts of “good luck” as they hurried to the terrier's side. Regice moved to stop them until his oppressors stood in the way. Groudon had grabbed a hold of Regigigas' arms, snapping out of confusion with a smirk. As the rain intensified, he noticed the hiss of steam coming off of his body.

Though he rolled his eyes with a groan, he commented to himself, “Well, look at the bright side, the pain will keep me focused and pissed.”

“You're welcome, buddy,” Kyogre dryly answered before smacking the ice golem into a tree.

With a wicked smirk, the Continent Legendary aimed a Hyper Beam into the colossal's back as he tossed him a few yards. “Hey, how about I shine a little light here?”

“No good, Groudon, it was to be raining today.”

“Screw you, I've made it sunny loads of times fighting you!”

“If this was me, it would have been flooded minutes ago.”

Groudon quizzically glanced over at his rival. “Then... was that flood prediction a fake?”

“It better be.” He hurriedly threw up a bubble of energy when Regice blasted a Zap Cannon, allowing it to be reflected off.

“What the hell does that me—” Regigigas interrupted with a tackle to the ground where he proceeded to punch him.

They felt the quakes of the battle behind them, but they dared not look back as they raced for the Tree. Mew kept her eyes open for any possible entrances, hoping its immune system hadn't been alerted. Luckily, she found a crystal-studded tunnel some yards off the path, and warned the others who were ahead to turn around. Even before they all arrived at the entrance, it was unanimous she would lead them through. After a brief explanation about the white blood cells' feral state, and a special request they all were to keep quiet the best they could, they continued on.

Every now and then as a sign the raging titans and golems were becoming increasingly more violent, there were echoes of rumblings and the tunnel would shake. At worst, the two mates would waver and feel nauseated, but they still advanced on. Cresselia and Mesprit worried over them more and more, wondering what they could do to aid them in their temporary illness.

“We appreciate it, but there is nothing you can do,” the clone sadly said when it passed for the umpteenth time. “Let us just be thankful the entire Tree is not suffering. Otherwise...”

They shuddered at the thought.

The group limited the amount of times they entered open fields to only check for their missing friends, to see where they were, or if there was another tunnel they had to reach. It wasn't until Uxie pointed out the crimson glow steadily becoming brighter that Mewtwo remembered Legion's claim of the connection between the spires and himself. Upon out-right telling them the fact, the cross rants made him discouraged.

“ _Great, our cover's blown!_ ” the alien scoffed over the others, shaking his head. “ _You should have told us this, Mewtwo!_ ”

“Keep your voice down!” Lugia hissed, smacking him.

“ _What's the point, everything's ruined!_ ”

“It's not his fault!” Articuno came to Mewtwo's defense. “He's been through a lot, and he probably just figured this out!”

Zapdos flailed his wings in her face as he attempted to shush her. “Use your indoor voice, Art!”

“I am!”

“Then lower it to my tone of voice!”

“You sound like you've smoked all your life,” Moltres smirked, elbowing him when he turned to glare at her.

Entei let out a loud gasp, earning him a lot of stares. “Zapdos, you've smoked?”

Suicune twitched. “Entei, until that blessed day comes when you can listen to what multiple people are saying at once, _shut the hell up_!”

Though taken aback by her snappish request, he took the time to think on it. “I don't think that's realistically possible to accomplish.”

“I am _this close_ to pushing you off a cliff in a desert wasteland—”

“Suicune, no death threats,” Latios sighed. “You're just making things worse.”

“Yeah, sis, you're making things worse!”

“I heard him!”

“What have I told you about keeping your voices down?” Mew stepped in, a little fidgety. “Can't you hear your voices bouncing off these walls? You're going to attract something!”

“Oh, _I'm_ attracting something?!” she snapped, swerving her head around to glare. “You see these idiots here? They're apparently attracted to annoying others for the heck of it!”

The feline wrung her hands. “Suicune, it's not their fault,” she whispered.

The beast snorted. “Yeah, like it was my fault Entei became this. You know, he used to be capable of holding intelligent conversations and being an _individual_ and all that crap. Now he's become this blubbering idiot even _after_ I nursed him back to health during those godawful months!”

“Suicune, we can talk about this later—”

“You kidding?! This is the perfect time to get things off my chest since we're going to die anyway!”

Her brother started to tear up. “Y-You don't like me, sis?”

She leered at him from the corner of her eye. “I liked the old you! You were a great debater and a powerful, tactical fighter, but now you're... this!” Slowly, she shook her head. “You're like that one clingy person everyone befriends because they felt _sorry_ for them. Most of them get over that clingy stage overtime.”

Everyone cautiously leaned in, holding their breaths. Some of them knew what she was talking about, though they held their tongues about it. The fire beast frowned some more, then pointed at himself. “Have _I_ gotten over it?”

A vein throbbed in her temple. “Weren't you listening to a _word_ I said?” she snarled. “See, this is what I'm talking about, Entei! You don't listen, not anymore! If only you hadn't made that turn, we wouldn't be having this argument, now would we?!”

The two siblings stared each other down for a few moments until Suicune huffed, tossed her mane, and headed further down the tunnel. Entei remained glued where he was, eyes showing signs he was gazing off into space to push the awful feeling away temporarily, but he couldn't hide his sadness. Mew shivered as did the other Legendaries, unsure what to do to lighten up the tension. Slowly, they followed after the North Wind, shooting the silent beast a sympathetic glance on passing. Latias moved to give him a hug, even encouraged him to continue walking. Deoxys, as much as he wanted to speak out about it all, possibly even tell off Suicune or crack a joke, decided to let it go, muttering to himself it wasn't worth it. (Cresselia patted him on the back much to the slight surprise of him and Darkrai.)

Not another word was spoken for the next few miles. Though the heavy atmosphere lingered on his shoulders much like with everyone else, Heatran couldn't shake off a different feeling. He had meant to bring it up shortly upon entering the tunnel, but kept quiet about it in the hopes it was a false alarm. The further they climbed, the more ill he felt. There was something very wrong about it all, he just couldn't figure out why.

Uxie happened to look behind him, taking notice of how slow he moved. “Hey, are you okay back there, Heatran?” he called out, flinching from the slight echo.

The Lava Dome Legendary waved an appendage. “I'll be fine, I prefer being in the back.” He frowned and shuffled over to the wall, planting a foot against it.

Mesprit glanced over her shoulder at that moment, brows creasing in worry. She floated to her brother's side, grasping an arm. “Something's wrong,” she muttered.

“ _Say what?_ ” Deoxys grumbled upon passing, hardly looking at her.

“Something about a fog,” Lugia responded, shrugging. “I don't get it.”

“You two shut up and keep going,” Moltres huffed, lightly pushing the sea guardian. “This tunnel's cramped enough as it is.”

Suddenly, Heatran shoved her aside. The strength of the push took her and the on-lookers by surprise, she barely caught herself falling to the floor. Spinning around to yell at him, the phoenix ended up screaming at the sight of an orange Kabutops pouncing through the wall and landing with a squelch on him, right where she had been. The others either screamed as well, spat out curses, or advanced to help him, attacking the blob. Mew gasped and hurried over, fists glowing in preparation.

Heatran, as much as he struggled against the gelatin hold, vigorously shook his head. “No, get out of here!” he shouted. “Go get the others before they catch you!”

She punched a hole through the mass. “We're not leaving you, Heatran!” she exclaimed, grasping one of his horns. She let out a surprised yelp when the blob shot out to wrap around her wrist.

He immediately bit it off to free her and headbutted her aside. “It's too late for me! All of you go, _now_!”

They watched in horror as he was swallowed into its depths, and it seeped deep underground. Hardly any of them found the will to cry out his name or even weep. Mew floated over the spot it disappeared, the power in her hands wavering. Clenching her fists tighter, she swerved around to face the petrified group.

“Why are you still standing around?! _Run_!” she demanded.

After a fidgety start, the Legendaries scurried down the tunnel the best they could. Lugia and Giratina stayed in the back to be less of a burden and to help be the blockades for any possible attack from behind. There were a few random ambushes, though they bombarded them with special attacks before they could engulf anyone else. Suicune, who was still in the front, nearly skidded to a halt at the end when she came upon a large fork in the road, leading to several different tunnels. With a push by Zapdos (more like a harsh jab), she headed for one, only to turn around to face the others.

“I think we'll have to separate!” she called out.

“ _No shit, Suicune!_ ” Deoxys exclaimed, rushing by her to randomly enter the tunnel she was going in.

Latios quickly placed a hand on her crest. “Ignore him, it's just a rush of adrenaline.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed, “Sure it is.” After one last glance behind her, she went ahead and ran down another exit. Tightly grasping his sister's hand, the dragon pulled her along, going after the alien.

Impulsively, everyone broke into small, random groups. Mewtwo moved for a far-off tunnel when a harsh tug in his chest brought him to a stop. Whirling around, his eyes caught an opening a few levels above them. Mew, due to her blasting apart a cell that moment, nearly bumped into him, and swerved past for a nearby entrance.

“Mewtwo, what are you doing?! Hustle!” she cried out.

Tearing away, he hurried over to take a hold of her hand and pulled her along. “I know a better way.”

She frowned, shaking her arm free. “You don't know this Tree better than I do. That tunnel will take us to the Heart.”

“You have not been physically inside the Tree as long as I have,” he reminded her. “Let us go up _there_.”

Mew hardly glimpsed at it. “Mewtwo, this is still the same Tree. I know every single passageway, secret tunnels, where the best spots are for sunbathing, anything you can think of. I know it all better than I do the back of my hand—which I admit is rather pitiful.”

He raised a brow. “That was _your_ Tree, this is _Legion's_ Tree.”

“And I'm telling you, _that way_ will take us to the Heart without any problems!”

They glowered at each other for a moment before they saw a cell in the shape of an Omastar leap for them from an adjacent ledge. Sweeping her close, he spun themselves out of its reach and shot up toward the tunnel. It started to pursue them, scurrying up the wall and pouncing when it got the chance. He dodged it with ease, though he was nearly caught off-guard by two new cells exiting the tunnel without warning, extending out their elastic appendages for them on sight. He and Mew pushed them back psychically when they passed on through, the clone picking up speed in the hopes they would lose them.

Unfortunately, it seemed the Tree knew where they were at all times. They were ambushed at every inopportune time, slowing them down and tiring Mewtwo out. After one other narrow escape, his counterpart slipped through his grasp and quickly scanned the walls, patting the surface all the way down its length.

“Myriam, what are you—?” he started to ask worriedly, then was cut off by a yank on his tail. Promptly, he sliced the blob's tentacle off, and hurried up to his mate. “We cannot stop, we must keep going!”

“There's something here, I know it,” she muttered through her teeth, slapping her tail at a spot above her.

After blasting apart a cell with a Shadow Ball, he exclaimed, “We are being _surrounded_ , Myriam! There is no time for goofing off, whatever you are doing!”

She shot him a look before making a frustrated grunt and zipping to the other wall. After several smacks, her heart jumped when her paw slipped through a spot with ease. “Mewtwo, in here!” she called him over.

He obeyed, and the moment he reached her, she shoved him into the hidden exit and flew in after him, spotting him stuck between two crimson orbs carrying him up. “What was that for?!” he shouted, struggling to free himself. “You could have warned me!”

If the mood was a little different, Mew would be giggling at how cramped he looked. She just instead pounced onto a sphere, and scowled. “You're welcome, dear.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Mewtwo sat up the best he could, trying to avoid scraping his head against the side. He scanned the numerous glowing globes around them. “What is this, anyway?”

“This is a vein, and these are the blood vessels, you can say. The cells won't get us here.”

“Are you sure?”

She bit her lip, shifting her weight. “Not really... I never saw them enter here before, that I know of.”

With a slow nod, he studied the orbs once again, taking notice of how rubbery and warm they felt, and the irregular closeness of them. “No matter... we are on a quicker route to the Heart, I have to admit. Good thinking, Myriam.”

She gave him a smug grin. “Told you I know this place better than my hand.”

He returned it, only to falter when he thought of the others' safety, wondering if they were having as much success as they were.

 


End file.
